Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney continues to drive home the message
that Canadian companies need to open new markets and spread beyond the
United States.
Emerging markets in Asia, he told CTV's Question Period, are coming on strong.
"There are other very good emerging markets where we are under-exposed
and we need to build our game there," the central bank chief said in the
interview broadcast yesterday. "It is starting, but we really, really
do need to accelerate it."
Mr. Carney noted a "paradigm shift" in wealth and power, though he wasn't ruling out the United States completely.
"The U.S. is not a declining world power; it is a reclining world
power," he said. "They are getting their house in order. It is less
about reducing our dependency on the United States than increasing our
exposure or dependency or access to these other markets."
" Sarkozy requesting regulation of commodity markets .."..
" If we don't do anything we run the risk of food riots in the poorest countries".....
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech laying out his G20
agenda on Monday that the world's top economies must agree new measures
to curb volatility in commodity markets or risk destabilizing food
riots.Speaking to some 300 diplomats and journalists in
the Elysee presidential palace, Mr. Sarkozy also voiced support for a
tax on financial transactions, calling such a move a "moral question"
but admitting the idea had many enemies. "We want
regulation of primary commodity financial markets," said Mr. Sarkozy,
who holds the rotating 2011 presidency of the Group of 20, a grouping of
the world's leading rich and developing economies. "How can you explain that we regulate money markets and not commodities? "If
we don't do anything we run the risk of food riots in the poorest
countries and a very unfavorable effect on global economic growth," he
said. "The day there are food riots, what country at the G20 table will
say this does not concern them? I don't see a single one." Mr.
Sarkozy has a three-pronged agenda for France's G20 presidency,
including tackling volatility in commodity prices, exploring changes to
the world monetary system and reforming global economic governance. He
has been meeting with fellow G20 leaders, including U.S. President
Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao, in recent weeks to win support for
his plans and assess what France can realistically achieve during its
presidency. Mr. Sarkozy appears to have garnered little
support for his idea to establish a new Bretton Woods system, the
monetary order set up on the ashes of World War Two which relies heavily
on the U.S. dollar. "France does not wish to call the role
of the dollar into question," he said on Monday in a tacit
acknowledgement of strong resistance from Washington. His
suggestions for creating a permanent institutional framework for the
G20, parallel to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank,
have also failed to gain traction, shifting the focus of his G20
presidency to commodities -- a theme that is also seen as a potential
vote winner in next year's French presidential election. FRANCE BLAMES SPECULATORS Wheat
prices in Europe nearly doubled in 2010, while a global economic
rebound helped push oil prices nearly 30% higher in the last four months
of 2010 alone. France, the European Union's biggest grain
producer, has blamed financial speculation for contributing to soaring
commodity prices, although analysts are divided over whether this has
played as significant a role as economic fundamentals in driving price
levels. Policymakers are concerned that rising food prices
could stoke inflation, protectionism and the kind of unrest that has
been seen in Tunisia and Algeria in recent weeks. High food
prices could also hit consumer spending in fast-growing emerging
countries that are leading the revival of the global economy. "Shortage
fuels speculation and speculation fuels shortage," Mr. Sarkozy said,
making clear France wanted to regulate markets in commodity derivatives,
not kill them. "There's no market without rules. This is a truly key
issue," he said. Last month, the EU commissioner in charge
of financial reform Michel Barnier proposed a clampdown on commodities
speculators, following Washington which has acted to prevent spikes in
food prices. Mr. Barnier, a former French agriculture
minister, wants traders to disclose their trading positions, a cap on
large trades and new powers for regulators to intervene to curb
speculation. Mr. Sarkozy's popularity is hovering near
record lows at around 30% and he desperately needs results from his G20
presidency to convince a skeptical electorate that he deserves another
five-year term.
Want to manage currency risk and increase revenue? Learn more about Risk Management
| 
