April 22, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427

WASHINGTON, April 21: Russia contends that the dollar is no longer the absolute reference currency for international foreign exchange reserves, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said here on Friday ahead of a meeting of Group of Seven finance leaders.

“The US dollar has not been very stable over the past years, for instance with regard to the euro,” Kudrin told a press conference.

“This in turn causes significant changes in the international situation and of course that is why we cannot understand the US dollar, so far at the moment, as the universal and absolute reserve currency. So of course, this influences the world economy as well.”

Kudrin also cited the huge trade US trade deficit, which he said “causes concerns with regard to the dollar’s status as a reserve currency.”

Russia for more than a year now has pegged the nominal rate of the ruble to a basket of currencies, including the euro, as well as to the US dollar.

The decision reflects the strengthening status of the euro among international currencies.

Kudrin’s remarks were seen as significant in that Russia, one of the world’s leading oil and natural gas producers, has seen its stock of foreign exchange reserves expand dramatically with the rise in crude prices.

Its reserves in mid-March totalled an all-time record of $204.1 billion, largely due to oil-based revenues.—AFP