SEOUL // The world's most powerful leaders agreed yesterday on broad economic principles but failed to reach consensus on the nagging problem of how to fairly value their currencies.
The two-day Group of 20 economic summit, the most contentious so far of the series of meetings first held in 2008, sidestepped that issue. A "leaders' declaration" promised to "ensure ongoing recovery and sustainable growth and enhance the stability of financial markets" but failed to get down to specifics.
Instead the declaration - an attempt to bridge vast differences among members of the group - called for "moving toward more market-determined exchange rate systems, enhancing exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying economic fundamentals".
That wording, vague as it is, was the strongest language that US negotiators could persuade the Chinese and others to accept. The US contends that China enjoys an enormous trade surplus with the US in large part because Chinese currency is vastly undervalued.
The declaration called for "refraining from competitive devaluation of currencies" but said nothing about the need for China to change the value of its currency so Chinese goods would be more expensive on the US market.
A number of leaders expressed dismay over the decision of the US Federal Reserve to buy more Treasury bonds, which may reduce the value of the dollar.
Globally, the greatest fear is that the international currency wars will intensify. Some leaders hold the US responsible for some of the world's financial ills while absolving China and others who might not be doing enough to reduce their surpluses.
The summit declaration did not mention any country by name, but the US president, Barack Obama, after its release, was frank in singling out China.
"We welcome China's rise," he said. "It's good to get people out of poverty." Nonetheless, Mr Obama said China's currency "is an irritant not just to the United States but to a lot of trading nations".
China, he observed, "spends enormous amounts of money interfering in the market to keep it undervalued".
Mr Obama argued against the view of the Chinese and Germans, shared by many at the summit, that the United States was depreciating its own currency. He said the Federal Reserve decision "was not designed to have an impact on the dollar. It was designed to grow the economy".
The US president, in one-on-one meetings with China's President Hu Jintao and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, did not succeed in convincing them of the need to reduce their countries' surpluses.
Mr Obama cited the risks of protectionism.
"No nation must assume the road to prosperity depends on exports to the US," he said.
"We will continue to watch the appreciation of Chinese currency" - that is, to see if the Chinese would seriously raise the value of the yuan as a first step to cutting burgeoning exports and the country's current account surplus.
None of the leaders considered an earlier American suggestion for keeping their trade surpluses within four per cent of current accounts surpluses.
If currency imbalance was the most urgent topic confronting the Group of 20, the failure of the US and South Korea to come to terms during Mr Obama's visit on a Korea-US free trade agreement was equally important.
In a sense, the currency issues were a microcosm of the greater problems of overall imbalances in trade.
"A lot of countries including South Korea depend on exports," Mr Obama said. "They want to see us grow" - that is, for American consumers to have the resources to spend more on imports from Korea and elsewhere.
He was not, he said, "interested in trade agreements just for the sake of trade agreements". Somehow there must be a way "to find a sweet spot that works for both Korea and the United States".
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
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The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
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Four stars
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
The specs
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)