Hearing Wang Ye's question, Li Gang nodded and explained:
"Yes, the task of earning foreign exchange."
“Since the summer of last year, our Luqi Province responded to the central government’s call and launched vigorous foreign exchange-generating activities across the province involving all walks of life, and the task of generating foreign exchange came into being.”
"In line with the principle of 'voluntariness, active exploration, subjective initiative, and earning foreign exchange for the country'."
"Foreign exchange earning tasks are not forced to be apportioned, but are left to each state-owned factory in the province to make active choices. Therefore, the province has set up three levels of foreign exchange earning tasks, namely US$10,000, US$50,000, and US$100,000."
"Of course, no matter how much foreign exchange is earned, even one dollar, the provincial and municipal finances will provide corresponding subsidies to the corresponding foreign exchange earning units according to the market foreign exchange ratio."
“It’s just that if these three values are reached, there will be additional rewards.”
Li Gang's voice echoed in his ears. Wang Ye unconsciously took out a red plum cigarette of his own, lit it and took a deep breath. At the same time, countless memories related to foreign exchange creation and foreign exchange tasks emerged.
The so-called foreign exchange is actually the U.S. dollar. At the national level, there is another term called foreign exchange reserves.
But in essence, foreign exchange actually refers to an "international currency." However, in these years and for more than half a century to come, the United States, as the world's strongest military and economic country, has made its currency an international currency. That’s all.
As an "international currency", the biggest function of foreign exchange is international trade.
To put it simply, for example, if China wants to buy goods from a foreign country, it needs to use money to buy them. However, China’s own currency is not recognized and accepted by foreigners. In this case, if you want to complete this transaction, you must either make the final purchase. Primitive barter transactions, or finding a currency recognized by both countries.
Under such an international situation, the US dollar has certainly become the best choice.
However, after the currency is determined, theoretically the transactions between the two parties can proceed normally. Then the second question arises, that is, as the buyer, what should China do if it does not have the US dollar?
After all, China prints its own RMB. Doesn’t China have U.S. dollars?
There are essentially three ways to solve this problem.
The first way is to use RMB to exchange for US dollars, but this is not feasible under the current international situation because the international community does not recognize China's economy, so it is impossible to recognize China's currency.
The second way is to borrow money! That is to borrow some U.S. dollars from countries with U.S. dollars for use, regardless of whether they provide collateral. But this method is also not feasible at present, because no country is willing to lend money to China.
The third way, of course, is to export goods, sell them on the international market, earn dollars from other countries, and then consume them, then there will naturally be no problems.
in the whole process.
The process of China obtaining U.S. dollars through exporting goods is called foreign exchange creation, and these U.S. dollars stored in a special international account are called China's foreign exchange reserves.
In fact.
Before the reform and opening up, there were not many commercial exchanges between China and the world. The only exchanges of commodities and goods were many in the form of support to third world countries and regions such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, and did not involve foreign exchange.
Therefore, before the reform and opening up, China had almost no foreign exchange reserves, only one or two billion US dollars.
However, with the advancement of reform and opening up, China's contacts and exchanges with the world have increased, and the demand for foreign exchange has increased. To give a simple example, do officials need foreign exchange when they go abroad for business? Domestic technology is lagging behind. Do we need foreign exchange to purchase technology and equipment from abroad?
As a result, foreign exchange became increasingly insufficient, so the country proposed the creation of foreign exchange.
The year before last, China's foreign exchange reserves finally reached one billion U.S. dollars, and last year they had soared to 2.7 billion U.S. dollars. However, even so, it was still a drop in the bucket in terms of the foreign exchange needed for China's economic construction.
As for the "market foreign exchange ratio" mentioned by Li Gang, it is another issue.
Because China has just opened up and the market is under a dual-track economic system, the exchange ratio of RMB and US dollars is determined by the national financial department through administrative documents, which is about 1.2~1.3:1.
However, this ratio is actually not in line with the laws of market economy, because the purchasing power gap between the two comparisons is huge. In fact, holding one US dollar can currently be exchanged for at least 12 to 13 RMB on the black market!
And this ratio is the "market foreign exchange ratio" mentioned by Li Gang!
Think of this.
Wang Ye put out the cigarette butt, looked at Li Gang in the smoke and asked with a smile:
"Director Li, I remember what you said just now."
"Either Laiyang Iron and Steel Plant will take over the task of earning foreign exchange, or they will only receive 50% of last year's subsidy. Isn't this considered a forced apportionment?"
In response to Wang Ye's question, Director Li shook his head, sighed and said with a bitter smile:
"If it doesn't count, what's the point?"
"Let's take Laiyang Iron and Steel Plant. Their production tasks this year are extremely low. They can only get 50% of last year's subsidy because I, Mr. Li, are soft-hearted. If they follow the plan at the Industrial Bureau meeting, they will only get 30 to 40%!"
"Moreover, even if we force the apportionment, how many factories in our Yuntai City can really earn foreign exchange?"
"If we don't give them even this little pressure, these factories would rather eat porridge and neither know nor dare to think about earning foreign exchange. After all, according to them, the only things we can produce are iron pots and plowshares. , can foreigners care about it?"
"Wang Ye, you may not know."
"In our Yuntai City, the unit that earned the most foreign exchange last year was the Yuntai City No. 3 Food Factory!"
"What do you think they sell to earn foreign exchange?"
"Wild vegetables! All the women in the factory are digging wild vegetables all over the mountains and plains! They are those things that we only eat when we have no food to eat, and then we rough-process them and sell them to the Japanese. I heard that they like to eat those things."
"For a whole year, we earned US$70,000 in foreign exchange."
Having said this, Director Li looked quite uninterested. He lit up another cigarette, waved his hand to Wang Ye and said:
"Don't mention these annoying things, Wang Ye."
"Your factory is a pilot project designated by the state for the military-to-civilian reform, so our local government must cooperate."
"But the reality is this. If you really want it, I will get some of the planned production tasks for you. Combined with the equipment in your factory, it is nothing more than iron pots, farm tools, water pipes and the like."
"The key point is that you still have to think of more solutions from the perspective of market economy. If it doesn't work, I will give you a note. You go on a business trip and go to the south to see Pengcheng, Yangcheng and the like. That's all. In cities at the forefront of reform and opening up, go and learn! Learn from experience, see what products you can develop, or whether you can get some orders."
"If we can get the experience or even get a product order, we can advance the production materials to you."
"There's only so much I can do..."
With the voice of Director Li, the eyes of everyone present dimmed. Everyone has heard the story about Pengcheng being full of money. Everyone knows that the south is opening up faster and the economy is more developed, but if it can be learned so easily, , or even bring back orders, then most of the state-owned factories in Luqi Province will almost stop production and have difficulty operating!
"Director Li, we can't discuss this anymore..."
The one-armed old man Zhao, who was sitting there smoking a pot, asked in a low voice. Just as he finished speaking, Wang Ye suddenly coughed lightly and said:
"Director Li, we have taken over the foreign exchange task."
"Just the one hundred thousand dollars!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the conference room was stunned!
