Finance officials from Beijing in Moscow on Thursday held a videoconference to discuss the creation of a “supra-national reserve currency,” the latest evidence of the support China is getting from developing countries as it seeks to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s main reserve currency.

If only China had someone like St. Patrick.  As I scanned the post-Paddy’s Day headlines, it occurred to me that China needs its own saint to drive some snakes out of its economy. 

The recent devastating earthquake in China will push record food prices in the country even higher. However, experts say the earthquake will not slow economic growth.

“There will be less supply of pork, less supply of rice,” said Sun Mingchun, a Hong Kong-based economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings, speaking to Bloomberg. “It’s not causing supply to decline drastically but it is definitely less. The impact on inflation is more than its impact on growth.”