US Treasury backs dollar
US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner says he is not concerned that the US dollar is weakening as a reserve currency, despite recent criticisms from China, Russia and France.
“I actually don’t worry about that,” Geithner said in an interview.
“In part because if you just look at the response of the world…when people are most concerned about risk, generally they want to be investing in the most liquid, safest market,” he said, adding that he would keep working towards keeping the dollar strong.
Geithner’s comments come as France joined other countries’ criticism of the dollar’s dominance. President Nicholas Sarkozy is the first European leader to join with China and Russia, who have called for a new international reserve currency similar to the Special Drawing Rights – an artificial currency used by the International Monetary Fund.