WEEK IN REVIEW: African officials Concerned about the Deteriorating Value of the Chinese Yuan

Finance officials in Africa and other emerging markets are becoming increasingly concerned about the deteriorating value of the Chinese yuan that’s weighing down the value of their currencies. The RMB has fallen steeply over the past two weeks in response to the disruption of factory production, trade, and consumer demand. This is bad news for countries like Peru, Colombia, Chile, and South Africa that rely on China’s huge import market and who’ve seen their currencies wipe out almost all of this year’s gains. (FINANCIAL TIMES)

U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying to revive the G7’s stalled “Build Back Better World” (B3W) initiative that aims to rival Chinese infrastructure development in the Global South. Yellen urged fellow G7 finance ministers and the heads of multilateral development banks last week to “implement bold and innovative” plans before the end of the year. G7 leaders unveiled B3W last summer but have so far made no progress in actually building anything. (REUTERS)