John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, said that creating a new reserve currency to replace the dollar is possible, and he also elaborated how. This news, that came over the weekend, could hurt the dollar’s comeback.
In a panel in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Lipsky said that such a step would be revolutionary, yet possible and would have advantages. How would it be done?
The SDRs would have to be delinked from other currencies and issued by an international organization with equivalent authority to a central bank in order to become liquid enough to be used as a reserve, he said.
It’s no coincidence that this kind of talk was heard in Russia: Russia is one of the countries that is pushing for a new reserve currency. About 70% of the world’s reserve are in dollars. Moving to such a “global currency” would hurt the greenback.
These talks about moving away from the dollar become more and more serious every time they’re on the agenda.
The panel was held on Saturday when forex markets are closed. When trading resumes, the dollar could be hurt from the renewed threats. Friday’s dollar momentum could stop in the wake of the new forex trading week.
For an overview of this week’s main events, check out the Forex Weekly Outlook.