TOKYO – It’s no coincidence that the price of gold has never been higher at a moment of maximum peril for the US dollar. That’s giving rise to new bouts of PTSD for an Asia region that remembers all too well how sudden shifts in the global reserve currency can torpedo economic fates.
The fact that even Bitcoin is back in the game – topping US$43,000, up more than double this year – will hardly calm nerves in the halls of power from Beijing to Jakarta and trading pits from Tokyo to Mumbai.
Ostensibly, the dollar is sliding because the US Federal Reserve is believed to be done raising interest rates to tame inflation. The real problem, though, is a trifecta of concerns that are moving to center stage – and in the process setting Asia up for a rough 2024.