For many months, as dark clouds have gathered over the Chinese economy, it has seemed obvious that the authorities might be tempted to press an escape button that has been used by all the other major economies since 2008. That button is labelled “devaluation”. Yet, until Tuesday, this temptation was stoutly resisted. Premier Li Keqiang has never seemed particularly attracted to a traditional Asian devaluation strategy. Indeed, export-led growth is the reverse of the economic rebalancing that he has always championed.
一段時期以來,隨著中國經濟上空的烏雲不斷積聚,有一點看起來已經很明顯,那就是中國當局可能會禁不住誘惑、按下那個自2008年以來所有其他主要經濟體都使用過的逃跑按鈕。這個按鈕叫做「貨幣貶值」。然而,直至本週二之前,這種誘惑一直被堅決抵制。中國總理李克強對亞洲傳統的貨幣貶值策略似乎從來都不是特別感冒。事實上,出口拉動型成長與他一直倡導的經濟再平衡目標背道而馳。