October's IMF meeting will be quite important. Will the yuan join the list of reserve currencies?

It's done in an effort to increase exports. It, in spite of the poorly-written article, has nothing to do with Greece.

It was a surprise move as well. I remember a little while ago when their market was dropping and the Government announced steps they were going to take to try and curb the sell off. It appeared like they were panicking. Now this. Wonder what they are up to???

As an Argentine, back in 2002 and after suffering "the fall from the lap of the gods" (due to 9/11 which sent, ultimately; our economy to a full stop) banks couldn´t keep up with the panic, currency became virtual and, well; the famous "corralito" took our savings to a "crystal cage" we could not access, only observe. Through that "glass", we ended up getting a piece of paper saying "you have this much money in dollars";yet it was unattainable to us. I had to do long lines in international banks such as the old HSBC to open an account so as to transfer from the one I had in Banco Galicia and then, transfer my savings offshore. Sadly, like millions; I was too late.

After the shock that almost ruinned me (I lived alone, my family was scattered around London/Barcelona, and Damascus); I got to travel due to the charge of a loan to Syria to be with my parents, posted there on May 2001. On the way, through Alitalia Airlines, I had a sixteen hour pitstop in Malpenza, Milano. So I decided to take the airport bus to the center of Milan and catch the Duomo, the Vittorio Emanuelle Galery, the Palazzo Sforza, etc. On the bus, I got to share seats with a young "american" economist. He told me something that still remains in my mind today:

"inflation is constant, unavoidable and perpetual. The problem with countries like argentina is that they fake stability where there isn´t any, for world economies shift as we speak".

When the "lie" became unsustainable; the economy crashed because we denied the reality before us. I was young then, a 23 year old architecture student that, due to the stress of the entire situation, went seven days straight without sleep on the first week of October. I defeated this insomnia by abandonning responsabilities that were my plans for the future, having to addapt to a reality I was forced to see before many others. I could sense something was wrong very early on that year of our Lord, 2001. The Bank started making ridiculous mistakes, like a glitch that changed my account number by one digit and...FLASH ! I came home one day and the Gas Company had cut me off !!! That, and many other things of the sort began occuring. I quit College (University) in order to catch all these foul balls...

Argentina 2002 was, literally; psychotic. December 2001 had it´s infamous "week of five Presidents", and violence hit the streets like Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans. Looting, Raping, Killing...all very melodramatic. I left not because of fear itself, but because of loneliness. A month and a half in the middle east, with my family; really helped me center. Despite the offers to stay; I returned. The "silent war" had just begun...

Three different forms of local currency were dispatched in Buenos Aires, Province. A Buck was Gold, and to have one to your power meant more of a risk than anything else. "Bankers" fled, and only the true ones remained. People, in the midst of destruction; began investing in the only thing that can be the antithesis of death...life. Those who couldn´t made love and multiplied, those who could began constructing in blocks. Industries shattered, bankrupcy destroyed families like there was no tomorrow; and the streets were flooded with mindless bodies that fell from their grace into a pit of despair that could only be seen through their eyes. Trading became the new means to an end, in every stratus of the social spectrum. From kids to real estate; the human unconscious resorted to it´s primal instincts...creation. So we passed from riots, pillaging and senseless destruction to stonemasonry, love and enterprise. That´s the way we occupied our time, that´s the way we survived. ¿The economy? Well, we still don´t believe in the old foundations that sunk in that swamp of illusion. Argentina still has much to do in that aspect yet.

Read "The Death of Money" and it starts to make sense.

Hello dbhalling,
It is robbing the ignorant people of wealth... Purely done for political reasons to change one metric positively (exports) and point to it as a success and placate the ignorant masses. Legerdemain... Our government is doing the same thing when it prints money QE1, QE2... etc. The politicians benefit at the expense of everyone else. What matter when they can vote themselves raises to compensate personally?

The Chinese are at it again. This is the third time in as many days.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015...

Regards,
O.A.

EVERYONE is racing for the bottom. When you have a currency (NOT money) based on debt, it's in your interest to pay back with devalued currency (a form of theft). Compound that with the fact that your products are "cheaper," meaning that you can sell more product, it's almost irresistible.

As a manufacturer of products that can be made in china, i have been bombarded by chinese companies to make my products in china or sell their version of the same type of product for 8 years now, and it continues daily. It can also be any product whether it is in my industry or not. So I have been saying for 8 years the chinese are in trouble. now the writing is on the wall for all to see. What we have here is a communist government that wants money and if they can not sell their products successfully at ongoing prices they reduce the price by devaluing their money. the communist government does not care how adversely it affects the people of the country because they are communists. I might add that the powers to be in the usa think the same way! in any event this tactic will not work because we in the usa have about 1/3 or more of the population not working so they do not have disposable income except to buy drugs and alcohol. Of course the chinese are also seeing less and less sales into the entire rest of the world. The problem is a direct result of the years of bad policy perpetrated by the usa government! So the out come of governments trying to control the economy of a country simply put "just does not work" If the government gets out of the way "let us alone" takes place which i doubt will happen any time soon or if ever maybe business activity of building wealth; a word politicians hate: then and only then the economy of the world will change for the better. I however would not count on it!

China is losing control of its monetary policy with capital flight. I expect trade war then WW3.

I find all of the comments interesting but they really do not get to the point of why the chinese have done what they have done, lack of sales of the products that they make for world wide consumption. I just received a 30 page flier from Cabelas. They are offering numerous items at 25% to 50% off. this is the start of hunting season so sales should not be in the cards until half way through the season. most of what they are showing comes from china! do you think they will be back there for reorders anytime soon. do you think that the orders for next year will be ans big as this years was.? The answer is simple, they will not restock when they alread have stock. You can discuss till the cows come home but the reality is if you don't sell what you have you don't replenish and that is the catch 22 that the communists face. their next step might be war.

When we buy from china, we have to pay dollars, so I am not sure I will see price reductions. I will try for them of course, but something tells me I wont get any sort of significant price decrease.

These things have all sorts of consequences. For example, the stronger the dollar, the more their huge stash of dollars is worth , at the expense of the chinese who are stuck having their wealth in chinese ruans. If the chinese let the ruan get stronger relative to the dollar, they depreciate immediately their huge stash of dollars. Also, they will probably print more yuans to stimulate their economy. Its all phony stuff, but it does have short term conssequences that may benefit them. Long term, its a joke. With a gold standard, they couldnt do these phony things.

Or, perhaps, there's another version: To obtain market share, it helps to devalue your currency and drive out the competitors. Of course, China has already done that. Now, to make that market share complete and permanent, it helps to not only force your competitors to close their factories and sell off their equipment, but to destroy the competitors' workforce and ability to compete. That requires about a generation or so of failed economy (or shifted into service, as opposed to manufacturing) and failed education, so replacements will not be available. The rest is, well, you can see for yourselves...

Devaluing also helps keep their export prices low. Helping keep up volume with their export customers with less than robust economies....like the US under the current administration.