Jacob Solomon's group - M2015(B)

The recent fall in oil prices, largely due to America's newfound dominance in the market, will cause Russia to experience a balance of payments deficit, according to this article from the Guardian. This is based on Russia's overestimate of the forecast for the global oil price and can be said to be an example of how global prices often influence balance of payments for countries, especially when it concerns national resources.

The article talks about how Britain is facing a deficit balance of payments. The state of the world's economy means that exports are not bringing in the country as much money as is needed, and British firms' earnings abroad are not a lot either. As a result, Britain is facing a problem, which can be solved by trying to incentivise exports (as the article discusses).

The UK is currently having an extreme deficit in their balance of payments. They have a £70 billion deficit in their current balance of payments. This has been strongly appearing since the beginning of the 2000s. Even now when they're in recovery their balance of payments is still very negative. The UK haven't had a surplus since 1997, this brings up the facts that the UK is the bigger country with a deficit in Europe.Although they're slowly increasing their trade this urges the matter of: how can the UK come out of this deficit in time before there are any severe consequences onto the population of the UK and the world?

foreign exchange rigging displays the vitalness and potential benefits that can com from aving a good value to your currency

Russians had 3.856 trillion roubles' ($82.27 billion) worth of foreign-currency deposits as of Nov. 1, compared to 3.421 trillion roubles on Oct. 1, an increase of more than 12 percent. Their rouble deposits fell by 0.3 percent to 13.829 trillion roubles over the same period, according to the central bank.

The article presents an insight on what seems to be the most significant economic effect of the sanctions the EU has imposed on it in response to their invasion of the Ukraine.

The article concerns over the depreciation of the Ruble over the recent months that have passed. It was predicted that the Ruble would reach approximately 32.86 Rubles to the US dollar. However last month (November 1st to be exact), the Ruble reached a staggering 43 rubles to one US dollar. Being a 30 percent increase before the predicted depreciation. It has depreciated so suddenly and so quickly that the value is being measured, monitored, and shown by the minute rather than the day. Thus creating panic.

Despite the Russian Central Bank's spending of $40 billion over the last two months, the ruble has been significantly dropping for weeks. The price of 1 USD was 32.86 rubles in January, but is now 43 rubles, a drop of over 30%. Food prices in Russia have sky rocketed, dairy and meat costing over 10% more.

This article is about one of the less mainstream currencies that exist: Bitcoin. This is an online currency that has genuine potential, but, as the article explains, one of the biggest obstacles to mainstream adoption for bitcoin is its price volatility. The unpredictable price volatility means that for the vast majority of people, the currency is impossible to use as it would be too risky. The payments that ARE made with Bitcoin are immediately converted into real currencies, defeating the point of Bitcoin.

Great article. Really informative. I actually didn't know about the Bitcoin, but this is very insightful.

This article describes the devaluation of the fixed currency rate of Nigeria as a result of the decreased energy prices. Nigeria is an oil producing country and therefore earns a lot of its income through oil exports. Now that the prices of other energy has dropped, there is a lower demand for the Nigerian oil, leading to fewer exports. The Nigerian central bank has now devaluated its currency by 8.4 percent in the hope that the lower prices will encourage a greater demand for their oil exports.

Credit: Reuters This article concerns the apparent policy decision facing China as to whether it should cut interest rates and loosen lending so as to decrease the deflation in Chinese growth. Historically China has artificially manufactured low exchange rates so as to benefit their exports to other countries. This new policy therefore represents a step away from this traditional approach.

This article shows that taking advantage of different currencies Toyota managed to increase their net profit

Regulators have imposed fines on six major banks for rigging foreign exchange markets. George Osborne argues that action have been taken in order to clean up corruption so there will be a financial system that works for everyone. 

This article talks about how a group of people is considering creating their own currency.This raises many questions as would it be acceptable and what s the outcome on the rest of the world's economy especially that gold is intend to be used. 

This article deals with the currency of Sri Lanka, the rupee. The traders say there is a downward pressure on the currency, while the government denies this.

This article talks about the loss of faith there is in the Euro currently because of the conflict with Ukraine and Russia, and how that negatively impacts the UK because its main export zone is Europe. Also, it mentions that the pound is strong when maybe it would be better if the pound was weak, so that refers back to our debate of "Is it better to have a strong or weak currency?"

This article details the so called resurgence of the US dollar, in terms of currency value. The currency itself has risen by around 7% against other currencies but Guardian economist Mohamed El-Erian warns that without the appropriate accompanying central bank policies, the rise of the dollar could cause further market volatility and at worst a new crash. El-Erian calls for governments to enact policy to support balance the current currency realignment. 

Venezuela is known to have a higher inflation than that of its trading partners. In the fall of 2012, Venezuela's inflation and the black market rate for the dollar both began to rise. However, the government announced a new system, SICAD II, on February 19 to break the cycle of inflation-depreciation. So far, the new system has tamed the black market. It is predicted that SICAD II will draw currency exchanges away from the black market, but it also stated that it will worsen the inflation problem.

This article is a summery of GBP/EUR exchange rate forecasts issued by by Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and a Reuters Smart Estimate.

This article is about how some of the 6 largest banks have been fined £2.6 billion for manipulating exchange rates for a number of years. The case is a good indication of the importance of exchange rates and that well-known and supposedly well-respected banks are willing to take the risk of committing this crime.