People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang at the IMF World Bank Spring meeting, April 18, 2013. Credit: IMF Photo/Cliff Owen via Flickr
It is rare that a seemingly parochial U.K. government bond rout smothers an important China story, but these are strange times. Had it not been for the recent extraordinary instability in the gilt market, triggered by the British government itself, the fall in China’s renminbi to its lowest level against the dollar since 2008 last week would undoubtedly have dominated the news in global financial markets.
At first glance, the Chinese currency’s slide appears to be more about the dollar’s strength — caused by the Federal Reserve’s series of interest rate rises in recent months — than a renminbi crisis. While the Chinese currency has slid by roughly 14-15 percent against the dollar this year, that’s in line with what has happened to a broad basket of currencies against the dollar tracked by the St Louis Federal Reserve. The renminbi has been relatively stable or even firmer against other major global currencies meanwhile.
And while the dollar has been as s
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