In the business daily Világgazdaság France's minister for economic affairs Christine Lagard stresses the need for economic structural reforms in the EU to continue: "For a year now Europe has been contending with three challenges: the financial crisis which began in the US and which has had a negative impact on our economies; the rising oil price which has increased our companies' costs and reduced our citizens' purchasing power, and finally the growing strength of the euro that has undermined the competitiveness of our companies. These circumstances have led to a decline in global demand and the concomitant deceleration in Europe's economic growth. ... We must continue with the structural reforms we began. These reforms have created 14.3 million jobs in Europe in the past five years. We must tackle the problems at their root and restore confidence in the financial systems. ... The confidence that has dwindled cannot be restored without a stable, transparent and unified system in Europe and without stricter rules for the financial world." (12/09/2008)

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The China Investment Corporation (CIC), which manages Chinese foreign exchange reserves, is increasingly investing its funds abroad. The Financial Times calls for more transparency: "Sovereign wealth funds must become more transparent. The new code of conduct for sovereign wealth funds may prove to be a basis for achieving this. But if they are not open about their assets and intentions, they will find that economic nationalists use their secrecy as an excuse to keep them out in the cold. If that happens, they will have only themselves to blame. ... China must realise that its ballooning foreign reserves are a problem. It should allow the renminbi to appreciate further against the dollar, reduce its current account surpluses and, above all, relax capital controls to allow private investors to invest abroad. It will be far easier for the rest of the world to absorb Chinese capital if it does not come wrapped up in ownership by the mighty Chinese state." (12/09/2008)

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