This December 2012 event was cohosted event between the Asian Development Bank, CIGI and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
As the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and Asian countries have become more integrated into the world economy, their governments have become increasingly aware of fundamental problems or challenges of the current International Monetary System (IMS). The conference will examine, first, a range of views on the fundamental systemic problems that are a catalyst for international monetary reforms; second, views from the BRICS and Asian countries, as well as regional considerations regarding the measures that key countries are already taking to respond to the challenges of the IMS, including currency internationalization; and third, options and preferences for orderly adjustment of the IMS.
Key questions guiding the conference included:
- What are the main problems or challenges of the existing IMS?
- How are the shortcomings of the current IMS affecting the BRICS and Asian countries?
- Is the instability of the US dollar as the de facto global reserve currency having a significant effect on the BRICS and/or Asian countries? If not, why not? If so, how and why?
- In some of the BRICS and Asian countries, is there a sense of need or urgency for the IMS to be adjusted to reflect the changed landscape of the world economy?
- How are the different BRICS and Asian countries responding? Compare the effectiveness of the differing responses.
- Why is China looking to gradually expand the international use of its national currency?
- What is the systemic impact of China’s currency internationalization efforts?
- Is currency internationalization a realistic adjustment option for BRICS or Asian countries?
- How are other emerging economies or global financial centers being affected by the international use of the Chinese renminbi? How are they responding?
- What is the cost-benefit of currency internationalization?
- What are the requirements, and preferred options, for orderly adjustment of the IMS? How to coordinate across national, regional and global responses?
To view CIGI's Flickr gallery of photos from the conference, click here.