Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that OPEC's member countries have expressed interest in converting their cash reserves into a currency other than the depreciating US dollar, which he called a "worthless piece of paper."
His comments at the end of a rare OPEC summit exposed fissures within the 13-member oil cartel -- especially after US ally Saudi Arabia was reluctant to mention concerns about the falling dollar in the summit's final declaration.
The hardline Iranian leader's comments also highlighted the growing challenge that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, faces from Iran and its ally Venezuela within the organization.
"They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," Ahmadinejad told reporters after the close of the summit in the Saudi capital. He blamed US President George W. Bush's policies for the decline of the dollar and its negative effect on other countries.
"All the participating leaders showed an interest in changing their hard currency reserves to a credible hard currency," Ahmadinejad said. "Some said producing countries should designate a single hard currency aside from the US dollar ... to form the basis of our oil trade."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez echoed this sentiment on Sunday on the sidelines of the summit.
"The empire of the dollar has to end," Chavez said.
"Don't you see how the dollar has been in free-fall without a parachute?" he said, calling the euro a better option.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah had tried to direct the focus of the summit toward studying the effect of the oil industry on the environment, but he continuously faced challenges from Ahmadinejad and Chavez.
Iran and Venezuela have proposed trading oil in a basket of currencies to replace the historic link to the dollar, but they had not been able to generate support from enough fellow OPEC members -- many of whom are staunch US allies.
Yesterday the US dollar continued to fall against the yen after a group of six Arab nations said they would consider changing their fixed exchange rates to the US currency.
The six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, will discuss a proposal next month to revalue their currencies, Secretary General Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah said on Sunday.
The dollar declined against eight of the 16 most-active currencies on speculation a US government report today would show housing starts fell to a 14-year low.
"The U.S. dollar is weaker across the board on the talk of a move away from the dollar peg," said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist in Sydney with RBC Capital Markets, the second-most accurate forecaster in the second quarter in Bloomberg news surveys. "The bearish dollar sentiment will continue with the housing data."
The dollar fell to ¥110.47 early yesterday in London from ¥111.09 late in New York on Friday. The US currency was at US$1.4666 per euro from US$1.4662 late last week. The euro traded at ¥162.04 from ¥162.86. The dollar may find support, an area where buy orders are clustered, at US$1.4685 per euro, Trinh said.
The Gulf oil-producing nations are under pressure to scrap the pegs after the dollar weakened to a record low against an index of six major currencies.
The difference between the price of the Saudi Arabian riyal and the cost of buying it in a year using forward contracts has widened 10-fold since last month, closing at 3.68 riyal on Friday. The riyal spot rate was quoted at 3.7235 by BNP Paribas Bahrain yesterday, down from a close of 3.7295 on Friday.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
RSS