Posts Tagged ‘Guido Mantega’

Notes From Underground: Does the Central Bank of Brazil Get “REAL”?

August 29, 2013

Yes, the pendulum of market prices is a cruel mistress. Two  years ago, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega was voicing concerns about the developed economies declaring a currency war on the emerging markets through the use of its quantitative easing programs. The Brazilians reacted by imposing various forms of exchange controls to slow the inflow of “hot money,” as well as cutting Brazilian interest rates. Now that the Brazilian Real has depreciated by 50% since August 2011, the Brazilians believe that they have had enough and want to stem the depreciation because of the inflationary effects of a rapid depreciation. The Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) raised interest rates again last night by 0.5% to 9% in an act to help end the REAL‘s recent downward move. Last week, the BCB announced a large currency intervention package of $60 billion involving swaps and loans to the markets. This program ensures that the Brazilian financial markets will have a steady stream of dollars  and will prevent a fear among investors that Brazil will not be able to meet investor demands for currency redemptions.

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When It Comes to ECB PRESIDENT TRICHET, THE MARKETS NEED TO USE ‘EXTREME VIGILANCE’

July 6, 2011

Tomorrow the Bank of England and the European Central Bank announce their interest rate decisions. It is a foregone conclusion that the BOE will hold the overnight lending rate at 0.50% as the U.K. economy is fragile and struggling to gain some upward momentum in the face of budget austerity. The BOE will also hold its QE program at 200 billion pounds and not look to increase the liquidity add as the POUND is relatively weak against most of the world’s currencies. Mervyn King is not worried about the inflationary impact of high food and energy costs, for he is more concerned about higher prices being a severe headwind for the average wage earner, which places him in the Bernanke camp.

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Notes From Underground: Juncker Bonds, Eurospeak for Junk Bonds

December 9, 2010

The biggest story making the rounds is the op-ed in Wednesday’s Financial Times by two European heavyweights: Finance Ministers Giulio Tremonti of Italy and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. In the FT piece, they argue for the ECB and Ecofin to get behind a push for a EUROBOND that is backed by the entire Eurozone and guaranteed by its coffers. While a good idea in theory, the Germans immediately said NEIN to the idea as they realized that they would be the one holding the bag for the entire project.

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Notes From Underground: G-20 was in Korea looking for its Soul

October 24, 2010

The statements coming from  G-20 central bank chiefs and finance ministers in South Korea tried to calm the markets nervousness about currency wars. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega didn’t attend as a form of mild protest to what he  felt was previous inconsistencies between words and actions. The U.S. had put forth a proposal that was leaked to the media ahead of formal proceeding for some numerical target on current account surpluses and deficits. In the final communique no formal targets were established.

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