December 5, 2004
Yahoo Finance
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged countries and companies Monday to curb their reliance on the U.S. dollar and increase their holdings in the euro and the yen.
"Euros, pounds and yen would be safer to keep than (the) U.S. dollar," Mahathir said in a speech to an East Asian conference of government officials and business leaders. "I would urge countries and businesses to switch to euro and yen (holdings) or buy gold."
Mahathir said the move would help countries from being hurt too much by oil price increases, which were considerably higher when measured in U.S. dollars compared to the other currencies.
"The U.S. dollar no longer reflects the true value or wealth of nations," he said.
Mahathir, who retired in October 2003, did not say whether he believed his country should alter its currency peg, which was imposed in 1998 amid the Asian economic crisis. The Malaysian ringgit is currently pegged at 3.8 to the U.S. dollar.
Mahathir also slammed U.S. President George Bush, saying he was "not likely to know the true causes of the U.S. dollar depreciation and the apparent rise in the price of oil."
"Bush is not likely to link it with the huge deficits of the U.S. or the spendthrift ways of his government," said the Malaysian leader, who had opposed Bush's re-election for a second term.
"At best, he would be in denial," Mahathir added. "We cannot expect Bush to do anything to restore the correct value of the U.S. dollar. Nor would he be able to correct oil prices."
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/041205/as_fin_malaysia_mahathir_currencies_1.html