Mckinnon Lectures (No.14): The Future of Global Economy and Currency Internationalization

2019-07-15 IMI
On the afternoon of June 14, the Mckinnon Lectures (No.14) was held in Renmin University of China. Mr. Mark Sobel, US Chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), Former IMF Executive Director for the US Department of the Treasury, delivered a keynote speech entitled “The Future of Global Economy and Currency Internationalization”. The meeting was chaired by Wei Benhua, Former Deputy Administrator, SAFE; Former IMF Executive Director for China. Discussants include Liu Hongwei from the Office of Financial Service of Beijing Chaoyang District , Zhen Xinwei, Senior Manager of Finance Department at Bank of China, Li Jing, Professor at Capital University of Economics and Business and other researchers. Mark Sobel’s speech is divided into two parts: the global economy and currency internationalization. In the first part of the speech, he pointed out a series of core issues in the current global economy by comparing the economic challenges and difficulties faced by the United States, Europe, Japan and China in recent years. In the second part, Mark shows that although the international monetary system is diversifying, it is difficult to change the dominant position of the US dollar as the world currency for short periods. In the subsequent interactive discussion, Wei Benhua highly praised Mark's comprehensive and profound speech. He pointed out that the dollar's position in the international monetary system was fairly stable during the foreseeable time period. At the same time, he also expressed confidence in the Chinese economy. He believes that as the world's second largest economy, China's currency plays an increasingly important role in the international monetary system and will also benefit the healthy and stable development of the world economy. Later, Professor Li Jing and other participants discussed the various issues in depth.