Question is will the dollar tank and the hard asset rally continue ?
Leaders from the world’s top emerging economic powers have delivered a warning-shot to the domination of the US dollar as their new forum flexed its muscle at a first ever summit.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China — dubbed the BRIC nations — called for a “more diversified” currency system after a meeting that came amid growing talk over the dollar’s future as the global reserve unit of choice.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the meeting in Russia’s central city of Yekaterinburg as “historic” and said it had met the expectations of his colleagues.
“The summit must create the conditions for a fairer world order,” he added in a final statement read out alongside Presidents Hu Jintao of China, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Their final communique said it “is very necessary to have a stable, predictable and more diversified currency system,” and that the leaders were “committed to advance the reform of international financial institutions, so as to reflect changes in the world economy.”
Medvedev earlier reaffirmed his doubts about the future of the US dollar as the world’s standard reserve currency and called for a major shift in attitude worldwide.
“The current set of reserve currencies and the main reserve currency — the US dollar — have not managed to perform their functions,” he said.
Following the BRIC summit the dollar slid from a month high against the euro in trading in New York, with the euro buying 1.3838 dollars at 2100 GMT compared to 1.3793 dollars late on Monday.
China has backed Russia’s moves for a revamp of the global financial system, saying there is a need for a new supra-national currency besides the dollar to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.
Medvedev’s chief economic aide, Arkady Dvorkovich, said Russia could consider investing its reserves not only in the United States and European countries but also in the financial instruments traded by BRIC states.
“This would be absolutely logical, if our partners agreed to place part of their reserves in our Russian instruments.”
But he also emphasized that Moscow did not want to see a sudden plunge in the dollar’s value.
“There is an understanding that the last thing we need now is turmoil on financial markets,” Dvorkovich said. “No one wants to ruin the dollar, including us.”
He also suggested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should revise the basket of currencies used to value its financial products to include the Russian ruble and the Chinese yuan.
The idea for the BRIC grouping was spawned after research by US investment bank Goldman Sachs suggested the four economies were developing at such a pace they could be world leaders by 2050.
However the quartet has yet to create a more official format for the grouping and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the group as “a baby (that) has just been born, essentially it’s only in a crib yet.”
Elena Sharipova, analyst at Renaissance Capital in Moscow, said the group’s “transformation into a real international structure is a long way off, but BRIC is clearly emerging as a new power centre.”
She cautioned that “it is hard to imagine” serious action being taken to shake up the world currency system in the foreseeable future.
The BRIC states are expected to be major buyers of the first bonds that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is working to issue.
China has said it is considering buying up to 50 billion dollars’ (36 billion euros’) worth of the new instruments, while Russia and Brazil could buy up to 10 billion dollars each.
But among the four economies, China is seen as having the best shot at eclipsing the United States as the world’s largest market.
China’s Hu flaunted his country’s influence, saying Beijing would extend a 10 billion dollar credit to member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to help them overcome the financial crisis.
Poorer members Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have been hit hard by the crisis and analysts believe China is seeking to increase its influence in impoverished but highly strategic region.
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