In 2020, Sebastian Mallaby of the Council on Foreign Relations announced the beginning of the “age of magic money,” in which advanced economies would “redefine the outer limits of their monetary and fiscal power.” By July 2022, Mallaby was predicting that this age was coming to an end. But, while most major central banks are now reversing quantitative easing (QE) and raising interest rates, China may need to head in the opposite direction.

The global pandemic’s impact on the economy was an issue that governments worldwide had to deal with, amid changing ways that people manage their money. Digital currency may be the next avenue for market stimulation in China, and beyond.

Fluctuations in China’s currency and economy don’t have the wild effect on the global markets that many critics allege, and such accusations distract from a needed collective focus on maintaining stability.

Concerns about the wealth gap and debt service linger to keep the US economy from growing at its full potential.

Quantitative easing (QE) is utilized by U.S. and European banks to manipulate asset prices and provide stimulus to asset-dependent economies. China’s market manipulation is no less blatant, but is distinct in its aim to promote new markets.

Financial engineering largely benefits the wealthiest class; monetary easing has failed to spur meaningful recovery in post-crisis economies, threatening to keep the global economy trapped in a continuous series of crises. As Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stressed, the answer is a commitment to structural reform – a strategic focus of China’s that, he noted, is not shared by others.

The controversial issue of “currency manipulation” has resurfaced. However, Washington and Beijing have very different perceptions about the identity of the “currency manipulator.” The net effect is currency friction that is likely to prevail until the 2020s.

European quantitative easing policy lead to the depreciation of the RMB exchange rate, but this depreciation is being carefully and intentionally observed by China’s central bank to observe the actual impact on the Chinese economy. A more flexible and internationalized RMB will be better to guard against depreciation.

President Obama’s sixth State of the Union (SOTU) address was heavy on domestic policy and light on foreign policy. The president did not talk much about recent progress in the US-Chinese relations. Instead, he focused on the urgency to complete the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement – without China. There is a reason to the omission and the focus: the Obama White House is increasingly concerned over its legacy.

China’s Central Bank is assessing changes in its international monetary policy in the following areas: RMB internationalization, becoming less dependent on U.S. Federal Reserve monetary adjustments, and containing the arbitrage of foreign speculative investment. With a major focus on the dispossession “outstanding funds for foreign investment,” the RMB is expected to experience moderate depreciation or fluctuation.