During one period not so long ago, the U.S. dollar was considered the only reserve currency. Over time that has changed. The euro, yen, pound sterling and Swiss franc are all considered reserve currencies by the IMF. Now, two more currencies are being added to the official reserve list.
MarketWatch reports:
The Australian and Canadian dollars, the world’s leading commodity-rich currencies, are being formally classified as official reserve assets by the International Monetary Fund, marking the onset of a multi-currency reserve system and a new era in world money.
In a seemingly innocuous yet highly portentous move, the IMF is asking member countries from next year to include the Australian and Canadian dollars in statistics supplied by reserve-holding nations on the make-up of their central banks’ foreign exchange reserves. The technical-sounding measure, reflecting growing diversification of the world’s $10.5 trillion of reserves, is likely over time to exert wide-ranging impact on world bond and equity markets.
Expanding by two the list of officially recognized reserve assets from the present five — the dollar, euro, sterling, yen and Swiss franc — signals a new phase in the development of reserve money. For most of the past 150 years, the world has had just two reserve currencies, with sterling in the lead until the First World War, and the dollar taking over as the prime asset during the past 100 years.
What's with the US-controlled IMF adding new currencies to the official reserve list? They are trying to stay ahead of the flight out of the US dollar and are attempting to direct the flight toward other paper currencies, in hopes of keeping it away from a move into gold and silver.
Link:
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/11/the-us-dollar-gets-serious-new.html
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