Greg QuinnJames Mayger Sharon Chen
Global finance chiefs sought to contain tensions over currency movements with China suggesting its August devaluation won’t be repeated any time soon and Japan labeling the Chinese unhelpful.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China’s central bank, told a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers in Ankara that a stock-market bubble in his country had “burst,” according to Japan’s Taro Aso. Another official present at the talks said China had presented the country’s situation as a new normal.
“It wasn’t enough,” Aso told reporters. “They may have tried to be constructive, but they weren’t detailed enough.”
China is on the defensive as its slowing economy and market turbulence send shock waves through emerging markets just as the U.S. is preparing to raise interest rates. With the MSCI emerging market index down 18 percent so far this year, a draft communique prepared before the meeting cited “recent volatility in financial markets” and the need to monitor potential spillovers.
The Shanghai Composite index has lost about 40 percent since reaching a three-year high in June. Zhou used the word “burst” three times in his explanation of what is going on with the stock market, according to a Japanese finance ministry official.
The Chinese delegation said they were trying to shift to a different growth model with as little disruption as possible, according to an international official participating in the talks. They said were trying to reduce indebtedness and are planning measures that will regulate swings in the stock market.
