Head of World Bank sees Dollar’s role diminishing

The president of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick, announced that America’s days as an unchallenged economic superpower might be numbered and that the dollar was likely to lose its favored position as the euro and the Chinese renminbi assume bigger roles.

Mr. Zoellick, who previously served as the United States trade representative and as deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush, said that the euro provided a “respectable alternative” for financing international transactions and that there was “every reason to believe that the euro’s acceptability could grow.”

Mr. Zoellick argued that the United States and a handful of other rich nations could no longer dominate the world economy and suggested that America was losing its clout.

[New York Times]