Asia is a land of saving gluts: the flipside to US and European deficits. China's current account surplus this year is forecast to reach almost 10 per cent of GDP. The “manipulated” renminbi is one cause of this huge surplus. Asia's less open capital accounts, younger populations and rudimentary social safety nets also help drive savings higher. Furthermore, the experience of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-8, when the region ran current account deficits with modest foreign reserves, spooked governments. Hence today's nearly $4,000bn of reserves held by countries in the region, excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
亞洲是一個儲蓄過剩之地，與美國和歐洲的儲蓄不足剛好相反。預計今年中國的經常賬戶盈余將接近國內生產總值的10%。“被操縱的”人民幣匯率是造成這一巨額盈余的一個原因。亞洲的資本賬戶不那么開放，人口比較年輕，社會保障網絡剛剛起步等因素，也幫助推高了儲蓄率。此外，1997-98年的亞洲金融危機也是各國政府揮之不去的噩夢——當時該地區處于經常賬戶赤字，外匯儲備不足。于是乎，如今該地區國家（不包括日本、澳大利亞和新西蘭）持有了近4萬億美元的外匯儲備。