Obama dismisses need for new international reserve currency

WASHINGTON, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President Barrack Obama sees no need for a new global reserve currency as proposed by Russia and China, declaring the dollar "extraordinarily strong."

"I don't believe that there is a need for a global currency," Obama said during a prime-time news conference on Tuesday.

Russia has submitted a proposal to the G20 summit due in London next week for the IMF to examine creating a supra-national reserve currency, a move that was supported by the chairman of the People's Bank of China in an essay released on Monday.

Obama said that investors' behavior showed that they had faith in the U.S. economy and currency, adding that there were already signs of recovery from the global economic crisis.

"The dollar is extraordinarily strong right now," the president said. "And the reason the dollar is strong right now is because investors consider the United States the strongest economy in the world, with the most stable political system in the world."

"We are beginning to see signs of progress," he said, adding that people should look forward with "a renewed confidence that a better day will come."

The G20 summit, involving developed and emerging economies and international financial institutions, will be held in London on April 2 with the aim of finding ways to overcome the ongoing global financial crisis.

As well as proposing the new reserve currency, Russia has put forward suggestions for how international financial structures should be reformed in the wake of the crisis, including steps to ensure the diversification of countries' foreign currency reserves to reduce the emphasis on the dollar.