BoE's King warns of growing currency competition
lift the British economy out of the doldrums. Countries with trade surpluses are often reluctant to boost domestic spending that would allow deficit countries to rebalance by exporting more.
"This is a problem which has to be tackled," King said, citing a divide between some surplus and deficit countries within the euro zone.
CURRENCY WARS
The warnings by King, who is set to step down in July, echo those made in October by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who delivered a blunt call for certain emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise. The back and forth of monetary stimulus and foreign-exchange intervention has complicated any coordinated efforts to recover from the Great Recession.
"It is fair to say a recovery of a durable kind is proving elusive," King said in his speech.
Fielding questions later, he said he had "great confidence" that the United States will avoid the worst-case effects of the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into force in January.
It "will find a way, if not avoiding going over the cliff, then hanging on by the finger tips" on the other side, he said.
Some political analysts predict the Republicans and Democrats will fail to agree on raising taxes and cutting
spending before Jan. 1 but might do so soon afterwards.
THE GOVERNOR'S WIFE
Britain recorded economic growth of 1.0 percent in the third quarter, marking an end to nine months of recession - its second since the 2008-09 financial crisis. But most of the
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