G20 Divided Over Dollar Slide, U.S. Mum [View All]

G20 Divided Over Dollar Slide, U.S. Mum
Sat Nov 20, 2004 04:48 PM ET

By Natsuko Waki

BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe and Japan voiced strong concern on Saturday over the slumping dollar but the world's 20 biggest economies, nearing the end of a two-day summit, looked divided over what if anything to do about it.

German Finance Minister Hans Eichel, playing host to the G20 meeting, said there was consensus that sudden currency swings were undesirable but ministers disagreed openly on whether the dollar's slide fell into this category.

In Chile, President Bush reiterated his administration's support for a strong dollar in the face of increasing disbelief from financial markets.

But in Berlin, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other U.S. officials, whose comments drove the greenback to a nine-year low against a basket of currencies last week, remained silent.

Japanese and European delegates at the gathering of finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 group of rich and emerging countries in Berlin said they were concerned by the pace of the dollar's decline.

But finance ministers from India and Brazil said the drop was no reason to worry and one official said there was no appetite among the G20 as a whole to intervene to stem the fall...cont'd

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=6875098