‘IMF Currency’ Can Be Floated Within a Year

Curt Here...

The G20 Economic Summit starts this Thursday April 2ND in London. On the agenda will be the discussion of a new global reserve currency that would replace the US dollar as the top reserve unit.

According to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who earlier this month endorsed the idea of new global currency, this new currency could be phased in within a year, although he admits that he doesn't think it will happen that fast.

The key to this article from my perspective is the speed in which this could happen. A year from now puts us into the spring of 2010, and if you have been following this blog and many of the others that we have posted on our links section, well then you know that many are watching the Summer of 2010. The Summer of 2010 is 3 1/2 years into the 7 year ENPI agreement between Israel and the EU.

We also know from scripture that the AC assumes power 3 1/2 years into the 70Th week of Daniel, and institutes the mark of the beast at the half way point of the 70Th week. If the ENPI does turn out to be the 7 year covenant with many as prophesied in the book of Daniel then control over the world's monetary system would have to also occur at that time.

I am certainly not saying that this is it, but I will keep watching and posting as the news dictates.

Stay Tuned

Curt

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UNITED NATIONS: A reserve currency system based on an IMF unit instead of the US dollar, a proposal floated by China, could be phased in within a year, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Thursday.

Stiglitz, a Columbia University economics professor who heads a UN expert panel analyzing the financial crisis and recommending reforms, addressed an issue that became a hot topic this week.

Asked at a news conference when the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) could replace the dollar as the top reserve unit, Stiglitz replied, “It could begin to be phased in next year.

He said the system could be phased in within 12 months. “Realistically, I don’t think it’ll happen that fast,” Stiglitz said.

One of the main issues left to be worked out is how the SDRs would be allocated, he said.

The reserve currency topic is expected to come up at next Thursday’s London summit meeting of the Group of 20 big developed and developing nations on the financial crisis.

Stiglitz’s panel has issued a set of recommendations for global financial reforms, including a proposal for a new SDR-based reserve system.

In an 18-page report released on Thursday, the panel said such a system “could contribute to global stability, economic strength, and global equity.” The panel said such an SDR system would be “feasible, non-inflationary, and could be easily implemented.”

Russia earlier this month proposed creating a new reserve currency, to be issued by international financial institutions. This week, China outlined how SDRs could take over the dollar’s role as the global reserve unit.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the dollar would remain the top reserve currency but expressed openness to the expanded use of SDRs.

Stiglitz said there was a “growing consensus that there are problems with the dollar reserve system.” He added that economists have been discussing the weaknesses of single-currency reserve systems for decades.

“One of the problems (with single currency reserves) is that because of the huge level of volatility, countries are accumulating large amounts of reserves,” he said.

The use of dollar reserves was also “contributing to the weakness of the global economy,” the former World Bank chief economist said.

“The dollar reserve system is deflationary, unstable and it also has some inequity associated with it,” Stiglitz said.

Stiglitz said the effect of the dollar reserve system is that developing countries have been lending the United States trillions of dollars at almost zero interest rates when they themselves desperately need that money.

“It’s a net transfer, in a sense, to the United States of foreign aid,” he said.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also weighed in on the issue on Thursday. In a news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he said it was important to discuss Russia’s proposal but did not elaborate.

However, Canada’s finance minister, Jim Flaherty, predicted in Ottawa that China’s SDR proposal would not get much attention.

Stiglitz, asked about the US and world economic outlooks, was not optimistic. He said rich countries were doing too little to help developing nations.

“There won’t be a robust (US) recovery until there’s a whole global robust recovery,” Stiglitz said. “If there’s going to be a global robust recovery, you have to bring in the developing countries, and right now we’re not doing that. And they’re just beginning to be hit.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has written to G20 leaders urging them to approve a $1 trillion stimulus package to help developing nations weather the financial crisis. 

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=business_news&month=march2009&file=business_news200903287528.xml