Gee, I wonder why. 
Posted on 10/29/2008 6:02:52 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China cuts interest rates again as growth cools
The People's Bank of China cut its main interest rate again today without any warning or explanation.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 12:54PM GMT 29 Oct 2008
It was the third time that the Chinese central bank has cut rates in the past two months. It informed banks that the key one-year lending rate will fall to 6.66pc from 6.93pc, effective from Thursday.
The country's policy makers were the first to act after the collapse of Lehman Brothers helped deepen the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. China slashed its interest rate for the first time in five years, after spending much of the past year battling record levels of inflation.
However, the prospect of a global recession has worried Beijing and China's economic model that is so reliant on the ability of Americans and Europeans to keep buying cheap Chinese imports. Industry analysts believe as many as 3m factory workers in Southern China could lose their jobs by the beginning of next year.
Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics, said that with inflation falling, the government would "now focus on ensuring that growth does not fall too much further".
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ping!
Gee, I wonder why.
Their melamine sandwiches are delicious.
Evidently, the Chinese also own Hank Paulson, who will make sure they are represented at the buffet table along with the Saudi’s and their America stooges, er former Congress-pimps, Presi-pimps, State Dept pimps...etc, etc.
| MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES | ||||||||||||||
| (in billions of dollars) | ||||||||||||||
| HOLDINGS 1/ AT END OF PERIOD | ||||||||||||||
| Jul | Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | ||
| Country | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | |
| Japan | 593.4 | 583.8 | 578.7 | 592.2 | 600.7 | 586.6 | 586.9 | 581.2 | 590.9 | 601.7 | 591.9 | 595.8 | 620.6 | |
| China, Main | land | 518.7 | 503.8 | 506.8 | 502 | 490.6 | 486.9 | 492.6 | 477.6 | 458.9 | 459.1 | 467.7 | 471.2 | 480 |
| United Kingdom 2/ | 290.8 | 280.4 | 272.5 | 247.8 | 201.1 | 181.1 | 161.9 | 158.1 | 174.3 | 155 | 120.3 | 99.8 | 67.3 | |
| Oil Exporters 3/ | 173.9 | 170.4 | 164.3 | 153.9 | 150.8 | 146.1 | 140.9 | 137.9 | 138.7 | 141.6 | 137.1 | 134.7 | 134.7 | |
| Brazil | 148.4 | 151.6 | 151.4 | 149.5 | 149.1 | 146.6 | 141.7 | 129.9 | 121.7 | 113.9 | 110.5 | 107.7 | 105.8 | |
| Carib Bnkng Ctrs 4/ | 133.5 | 122.4 | 104.7 | 115.4 | 107.1 | 103 | 108.1 | 116.4 | 107.4 | 105.6 | 99.1 | 103.8 | 70.7 | |
| Luxembourg | 75.8 | 88.6 | 80.4 | 84.8 | 92.7 | 83.1 | 68.4 | 69.7 | 68.3 | 63.3 | 58.4 | 57.1 | 57.6 | |
| Russia | 74.1 | 65.3 | 63.7 | 60.2 | 42.4 | 38.4 | 35.2 | 32.7 | 33.5 | 33.6 | 31.8 | 31.9 | 35.9 | |
| Hong Kong | 60.6 | 61.2 | 61.4 | 63.2 | 60.6 | 57.5 | 54.4 | 51.2 | 51.7 | 51.3 | 52.6 | 53.2 | 55.9 | |
| Switzerland | 45.1 | 44.4 | 42.1 | 42.5 | 41.2 | 39.4 | 39.3 | 38.9 | 38.1 | 37.8 | 37 | 37.4 | 37.2 | |
| Taiwan | 42.3 | 40.9 | 40.1 | 42.6 | 41.2 | 38.8 | 38.9 | 38.2 | 37.1 | 40.7 | 39.9 | 39.5 | 44.6 | |
| Norway | 41.8 | 43.3 | 47.1 | 45.3 | 44.5 | 34 | 33.6 | 26.2 | 27.6 | 25.5 | 22.9 | 6.4 | -- | |
| Germany | 41.1 | 40.9 | 45 | 43.7 | 42.2 | 42.2 | 42.7 | 41.7 | 39.1 | 41.8 | 41.8 | 42.3 | 41.7 | |
| Mexico | 36 | 42.5 | 40.4 | 38 | 38.8 | 36.5 | 35.6 | 34.4 | 32 | 30.5 | 30 | 30.2 | 34.9 | |
| Korea | 35.3 | 36.5 | 38.5 | 40.5 | 40.7 | 41.4 | 42.1 | 39.2 | 37.8 | 37 | 39.4 | 42.6 | 44.4 | |
| Turkey | 32.4 | 30.3 | 28.9 | 31.1 | 28.7 | 28.5 | 28.2 | 25.6 | 25.6 | 28.1 | 28.3 | 29.2 | 28.5 | |
| Thailand | 31.8 | 32.4 | 32.8 | 27.9 | 25.7 | 30.5 | 28.9 | 27.4 | 27.5 | 22.8 | 24.7 | 22.9 | 22.5 | |
| Singapore | 31.4 | 30.4 | 30.6 | 33.5 | 33.3 | 33.5 | 38.6 | 39.8 | 40.2 | 38.8 | 36.6 | 37.8 | 36.3 | |
| Canada | 26.6 | 28.4 | 30.3 | 25.9 | 22 | 22.7 | 24.4 | 18.7 | 24.1 | 15.9 | 17.3 | 18.8 | 23.3 | |
| Netherlands | 14.9 | 15.1 | 15.7 | 15.5 | 15.1 | 14.1 | 15.9 | 15.2 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 15.1 | 16.6 | 15.7 | |
| Poland | 13.9 | 13.3 | 12.4 | 12.5 | 11.6 | 10.2 | 10.3 | 12.9 | 11.1 | 9.8 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 11.1 | |
| Egypt | 13.4 | 12.3 | 12.8 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 12 | 11.6 | 10.4 | 10.6 | 9.9 | 9.9 | 10.1 | 10.2 | |
| Chile | 13.1 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 10.1 | 9.7 | 8.6 | 9 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 7.4 | |
| India | 13 | 11.7 | 10.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 14.4 | 14.6 | 14.9 | 14.8 | 14.9 | 10.8 | 12.1 | 14.1 | |
| Sweden | 12.4 | 12.4 | 13.2 | 13.1 | 13.2 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 13.7 | 14.1 | 14.5 | 14.8 | 15.7 | 15.5 | |
| Belgium | 12 | 12.4 | 12.4 | 12.5 | 12.8 | 13.2 | 13.1 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 14.6 | 14.6 | 14.6 | 15.4 | |
| Ireland | 11.2 | 14.2 | 15.8 | 18.5 | 17.8 | 15.6 | 15.6 | 18.7 | 17.5 | 17 | 16.3 | 16.8 | 15.6 | |
| All Other | 139.5 | 145.8 | 147.7 | 148.6 | 155.4 | 155.6 | 157.8 | 160.6 | 157.7 | 152.1 | 149.4 | 151.1 | 154.3 | |
| Grand Total | 2676.4 | 2646.5 | 2611.2 | 2594.1 | 2513.8 | 2434.1 | 2403.8 | 2353.2 | 2337.1 | 2299.2 | 2235.3 | 2217.5 | 2201 | |
| Of which: | ||||||||||||||
| For. Official | 1767.6 | 1751.7 | 1743.9 | 1743.4 | 1706.6 | 1681.6 | 1688 | 1641.1 | 1619.1 | 1613.8 | 1607.7 | 1595.1 | 1621 | |
| Treasury Bills | 232.5 | 226.7 | 220 | 215.7 | 201.3 | 204.3 | 207.1 | 196.3 | 185.3 | 180.4 | 178.3 | 180 | 176.2 | |
| T-Bonds & Notes | 1535.1 | 1525 | 1523.9 | 1527.6 | 1505.3 | 1477.3 | 1480.9 | 1444.8 | 1433.8 | 1433.4 | 1429.4 | 1415.1 | 1444.7 | |
| Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve Board September 16, 2008 1/ Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury marketable and non-marketable bills, bonds, and notes reported under the Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting system are based on annual Surveys of Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities and on monthly data. 2/ United Kingdom includes Channel Islands and Isle of Man. 3/ Oil exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria. 4/ Caribbean Banking Centers include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles and Panama. Beginning with new series for June 2006, also includes British Virgin Islands. |
||||||||||||||
Thanks.
Quite interesting times in which we live.
China cuts interest rates as demand plummits?
Funny how that happens when people discover the stuff they have been buying from China was liable to kill you.
Given the rather substantial inflation in the PRC one has to think that interest rates this low imply at least a negative 500 bips real rate.
And we thought the US had a debt driven asset bubble.
jas3
As a result, they get tons of dollars and maintain huge foreign currency reserve, with which they get to play world financial player these days. On the domestic side, massive inflow of export revenue means too much money inside China, after huge amount of Reminbi exchanged with dollars hit the domestic markets.
Yes, China is creating a debt-driven bubble in its own way. This bubble is more of a classic bubble.
Coupled with continued practice of crooked accounting among banking sector that is hiding accumulation of non-performing loans, China is also a ticking time bomb.
China should stay in high growth path to keep these problems at bay. When the growth is high, even when it is making things worse by selling things at loss, all tend to be tolerated. However when it slows down even to a moderate growth rate, all hell can break loose. Big fault lines in Chinese economy can all break.
Chinese regime has to run their economic train at high speed indefinitely, which is not sustainable. One of these days, U.S. economic problem will meet its match in China.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.