For instance, in emerging markets such as South Korea he has been buying short-dated bonds paying 2.5 to 3 per cent, with the prospect of gains from currency movements over time.

CNN: Flee 'safe' sovereign debt, says Hasenstab

Sony was helped in the final quarter by a currency market that knocked almost 20 per cent off the yen's value against the dollar and euro compared with the same period a year earlier, amplifying its overseas earnings.

CNN: Sony posts first full-year profit in 5 years

Inflation, at an estimated 2 billion per cent a month, has rendered the country's currency worthless.

ECONOMIST: Zimbabwe

The only major market open on Friday night when Moody's made the announcement was in currency, and the pound lost nearly a cent against the US dollar.

BBC: Credit where it's due

Europe's first 'Tobin tax', named after economist James Tobin who mooted a global tax on currency trades in the 1970s, levies 0.1 per cent on stock and bond trades and 0.01 per cent on derivatives transactions involving one financial institution with its headquarters in the tax area, or trading on behalf of a client based in the tax area.

CNN: US banks warn over planned EU 'Tobin tax'

"Over the past five years, foreign currency borrowing by firms in emerging markets has risen by about 50 per cent, " said Ms Lagarde.

CNN: Lagarde warns over three-speed world