Currency battles across the globe risk undermining the global economy, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Straus-Kahn warned Thursday.
The IMF is the appropriate forum to make progress on resolving currency tensions, including getting China to appreciate its undervalued currency, Strauss-Kahn said at the start of annual IMF and World Bank meetings.
He said the the global political mood wasn't right for a Plaza-style accord on currency, a deal reached by the Group of Seven in the 1980s to coordinate the depreciation of the dollar against the Japanese yen and German mark, as suggested by the head of a global banking group earlier this week.
But Strauss-Kahn backed U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's call for a faster pace of yuan appreciation in Beijing to progress on IMF governance reform to strengthen the voice and vote of dynamic emerging economies.
The IMF chief said the IMF needed to launch a 'systemic stability initiative' to build international consensus on global currency policies.
On Wednesday, Geithner essentially accused China of sparking a global currency war--where countries competitively devalue their exchange rates--because of the sluggish pace of moving the yuan to a market-based rate.
Japan, South Korea and Brazil have all pushed their currencies lower in recent weeks.
The IMF is the appropriate forum to make progress on resolving currency tensions, including getting China to appreciate its undervalued currency, Strauss-Kahn said at the start of annual IMF and World Bank meetings.
He said the the global political mood wasn't right for a Plaza-style accord on currency, a deal reached by the Group of Seven in the 1980s to coordinate the depreciation of the dollar against the Japanese yen and German mark, as suggested by the head of a global banking group earlier this week.
But Strauss-Kahn backed U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's call for a faster pace of yuan appreciation in Beijing to progress on IMF governance reform to strengthen the voice and vote of dynamic emerging economies.
The IMF chief said the IMF needed to launch a 'systemic stability initiative' to build international consensus on global currency policies.
On Wednesday, Geithner essentially accused China of sparking a global currency war--where countries competitively devalue their exchange rates--because of the sluggish pace of moving the yuan to a market-based rate.
Japan, South Korea and Brazil have all pushed their currencies lower in recent weeks.