Friday, February 10, 2012

Which Country Has Been The Most Aggressive Inflationist?

Not the US.

In terms of expanding the central bank's balance sheet, the answer is China. Writes Dr. Ed Yardeni,

The Keynesians have spread fiscal recklessness throughout the world, and want to make sure that China participates. In any event, the Chinese are better at monetary than fiscal policy recklessness. No central bank on earth has pursued quantitative easing for as long or on a bigger scale as has the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). The PBoC’s assets have increased by 170% over the past five years to a record $4.44 trillion in December. That compares to $2.87 trillion at the Fed and €2.74 trillion at the ECB. The PBoC accomplished this feat by accumulating foreign exchange reserves, which accounted for a record 83% of the central bank’s assets at the end of last year, up from 40% at the start of 2002.

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From Bianco Research

It’s why China’s economy is highly vulnerable to a systemic bust.

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