As the currency of a developing economy, the road to internationalisation of the RMB will have many potholes, and it would be the skills and resilience of the policymakers in China that will determine whether the RMB manages to navigate these hazards and travels far on the road to internationalisation. After all, we can think of other more developed countries, including another at one time second-largest economy, which upon reaching the threshold on which China stands today, decided that the costs that come with having their currency playing a big international role were something that they did not want to bear. For lack of official support, these currencies consequently never achieved their full global potential. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Would the reality be different for China? Only time will tell. It is the case that the RMB will sail more smoothly and speedily in international waters if its sails are filled by the strong winds of robust Chinese economic fundamentals. Five key pre-conditions to being a global currency So allow me to look at some of the key fundamentals that I believe would support a sustainable progress of the RMB towards being a major global currency. Studying the history of global currencies such as the British pound and the US dollar provides us some indication of the possible path of RMB internationalisation. Let me be clear, this does not mean that I am implying that the RMB must necessarily follow the path of other major global currencies.
Kristina Persson: The impact of the euro Speech by Ms Kristina Persson, Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at the Women’s Economic Round Table, New York, 29 October 2003. *  *  *  Allow me first to extend special thanks for this invitation. It is particularly important for me personally as well as for the Riksbank to be given this opportunity to meet women economists and discuss current economic issues. I am privileged to be one of three women on the Riksbank’s Executive Board, which has a total of six members. At the Riksbank we strive to attain an even distribution of men and women at all levels. This is a deliberate policy but also reflects the sharp rise in the proportion of women among qualified economists entering the Swedish business sector in recent decades. If this trend is to continue, and more women are to take the chance of achieving success in this traditionally male profession, we will need more role models like you here today. The subject of my speech is “The impact of the euro”, a topic that was decided before 14 September 2003, when Sweden held a referendum on introducing the single currency. Personally I am convinced for many reasons that Sweden should introduce the euro, and made no secret of that. However, as many of you know, the result was a clear ‘no’ to the euro. The question of the economic advantages and disadvantages of the euro often resembles a tug-of-war between the short- and long-term perspectives.