MBS Blog

This article is from one of our favorite bloggers: Mike Hewitt provides the “big picture” of individual nations relative to the global economy.  The picture is not pretty for many.

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/dollardaze/2008/1205.html

The extreme level of public debt in developed nations in particular…and these charts don’t measure corporate and private debt…portend an almost certain re-alignment of economic power.  China for example, can be compared to the United States at the beginning of the 20^th century. The United States is now like post World War II Britain. It may never fully recover.

The  result of the changes is the full emergence of transition economies.  Unburdened by massive debt, with growth oriented economies that have incorporated  free market mechanisms,  emerging market economies could  take the lead a lot faster than previously reckoned. Indeed, that may be the “silver lining” in the current economic cloud.

Technorati Tags: China, United States, World War II, Britain, www.dollardaze.org, Mike Hewitt, Wealth of Nations, debt, transition economies, emerging markets, corporate debt, private debt, Anton Olff, Intermational Monetary Fund, IMF, G-7, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada, government liabilities, Foreign Reserves, Sovereign Wealth Funds, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Dubai Workd, Singapore, Temasek Holdings, Norway, Government Pension Fund of Norway, Kuwait, Kuwait Investment Authority, China, China Investment Corporation, Australia, Australian Government Future Fund, Qatar, Qatar Investment Authority, Libya, Libya Investment Authority, Alaska Permanent Fund, Brunei, Brunei Investment Agency, South Korea, Korea Investment Corporation, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan National Fund, Chile, Copper Stabilization Fund, Russia, Russian National Wealth Fund, Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional, Canada, Alberta Heritage Fund, Taiwan, National Stabilization Fund, Bahrain, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, Iran, Oil Stabilization Fund, Oman, State General Reserve Fund, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Sovereign Wealth Fund, foreign reserve holdings, India, Brazil, Algeria, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey, Hong Kong, Poland, Nigeria, Indonesia, Argentina, Romania, Venezuela, Netherlands, Spain, CIA,

Feeling the effects of the current Global Economic Crisis, there is little doubt that Russian and Ukrainian Governments are preparing to let their currencies slide even further. The question remains as to how low they will go and what effect they will have on these emerging market economies.

In Ukraine, the hryvna is now hovering around 6 to $1USD, having lost more than 20% over the last 60 days.  The Russian ruble is also getting battered and could see levels against the U.S. dollar that it has not experienced since the financial crisis of the late 1990s.

Devaluations in either economy could exascerbate already high levels of inflation. Russia is particularly vulnerable as it relies on imports of basic food products, plus it derives a significant portion of its revenues for oil and natural gas exports. As oil revenue has declined, and subsequent market interventions have depleted Russia’s foreign currency reserves, Russia could be hit with a higher degree of stagnation than Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine may be able to weather a devaluation better than Russia.

The industrial sector located in Eastern Ukraine could benefit from the lower prices of their steel and chemical products, making their products competitive with China and South Korea. The Ukrainian agricultural sector could also benefit from devaluation.  The fomer “bread basket” of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, could regain this title, but with exports to Europe and Asia. This vastly under utilized sector could see a surge in foreign investment next year, or whenever the global credit markets become unfrozen.

In the meantime, businesses and individuals are going to have to adjust to the new reality.

Anton Olff

Technorati Tags: Global Economic Crisis, Ukraine, devaluation, currency reserves, hryvna, Russia, ruble, dollar, Eastern Ukraine, China, South Korea, Soviet Union, exports, Europe, Asia,