Barron's:How the debate has shifted from `whether' to `when' China will devalue its currency

A Weekly Digest of The World's Financial Press

THE SPECULATION has been fuelled by reports that Beijing has formed a special team to study the impact of a possible devaluation of the yuan, and a warning by China's top foreign-trade official that the nation's exports face a `very tough, very difficult' year. Capital flight puts further pressure on the yuan. Last summer, we didn't anticipate the magnitude and rapidity of China's economic slide, underscored by skyrocketing unemployment, increasing bankruptcies of state enterprises and banks, and rising violence in economically ravaged rural areas.

- Neil A Martin