Saturday, October 06, 2007

More of your pension in risky nations and currencies

Xinhua News, of all places, reports that the World Bank is floating a US$5 billion bond denominated in the currencies of poor nations in order to
increase investment by Western pension funds and Asian nations with bulging reserves in countries that are considered relatively risky bets.
the ulterior motive of this bond issue is the hope that citizens of poorer nations will be more able to borrow funds in local currencies, for the baffling reason that
it
would help reduce the risks developing nations face when there are large swings in the value of major currencies.
I mean, they specifically say that these currencies they're issuing the bonds in are risky, so how is encouraging poor people to borrow money in these currencies going to reduce risks of any kind?

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