Brics:
The Brics Business Forum — which held its launch ceremony on September 3 and will close on September 5 in China’s coastal city of Xiamen — has had to cede headlines to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.
The Forum is expected to see the participation of some 1,200 delegates, including the heads of states from the five Brics countries and 24 others from the rest of the world, such as Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto.
During his keynote speech, Chinese president Xi Jinping said the Brics had seen progress in areas, including through the launch of the New Development Bank and achieving greater trade and financial co-operation , but added the organisation should continue to expand co-operation and promote growth.
“The development of emerging market and developing countries is not intended to move the cheese of anyone but to make the pie of the global economy bigger,” Xi said.
The Brics NDB approved four projects worth $1.4bn on August 30 and three additional projects in China on September 3, bringing total lending so far to $3bn across 11 projects. The bank has said it plans $2.5bn worth of additional loans in 2018. On September 2, the Brics NDB also held a foundation stone laying ceremony for its future Shanghai headquarters, located in the Shanghai Expo Park.
Russian president Vladimir Putin wrote in an open letter published on September 1 that he expects Brics to help reduce over-reliance on dominant global reserve currencies.
“We are ready to work together with our partners to promote international financial regulation reforms and to overcome the excessive domination of the limited number of reserve currencies,” he wrote. “We will also work towards a more balanced distribution of quotas and voting shares within the IMF and the World Bank.
Regulators:
The CSRC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hellenic Capital Market Commission on August 31, according to local media reports. The agreement aims to boost co-operation between the authorities and the exchanges in the two countries.
FX:
The People’s Bank of China fixed the RMB against the dollar at 6.6721, 994bp stronger than a day earlier. The 4.30pm NEX benchmark for the CNH was 6.5754 on Friday, down from 6.6024 on Thursday, while the Thomson Reuters CNY index closed last week at 95.72, up 1.03% from a week earlier.
China’s three currency indices based on the CFETS, special drawing rights and Bank for International Settlement banks stood at 94.42, 95.37 and 95.18 as of September 1. The indices strengthened 0.70%, 0.64% and 0.73%, respectively.
The dollar index opened at 92.677 on Monday compared to a 92.249 close on Friday.
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