JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi central bank chief said Sunday that he believes the U.S. dollar will remain the world’s key foreign reserve currency, offering the endorsement at a meeting of business leaders taking stock of the global financial crisis.
Participants at the Jeddah Economic Forum also discussed the growing role of emerging market economies in helping steer the world through the recession.
“The dollar is still pre-eminent in its role as a reserve currency,” said Mohammed al-Jasser, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Even so, as an official reserve currency, the “euro is gaining ground,” he told the conference.
The remarks offer another indication that even with the wide fluctuations in the U.S. currency, suggestions put forward last year by China for a new international reserve currency have yet to gain serious traction, at least in the Gulf region.
