It has long been a magnet for flight capital chased by political unrest or currency instability, particularly in the 1970's and 1980's when rich Latin Americans sought refuge from economic tumult.

High German interest rates, which have kept the mark extremely strong, have been the primary cause of the currency instability.

But over the next eight months, my path was to be studded with booby traps: bureaucratic red tape; visible and invisible import barriers; currency instability, and soaring inflation.

H. Jorg Fehmer, the treasurer for Ford of Europe, which is based in Cologne, Germany, said the currency instability was having a severe impact.

When currency instability hit Southeast Asia last summer, South Korea was vulnerable.

If China responds by devaluing the yuan, it could set off another wave of currency instability.

Middle-class Brazilians with memories of the currency instability that prevailed until recent years sought their traditional refuge in times of crisis - United States dollars.

More immediately, a French "no" could set off a new wave of currency instability and deepen tensions between the community's big powers - France, Britain and Germany.

But both President Zedillo and Finance Minister Guillermo Ortiz have elected to deal with currency instability by ignoring it, at least in public.

The dangers not only of even greater currency instability, with serious economic consequences, but also of a break in relations between the two countries militate against a declared currency or trade war.