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☆ The US needs to get its ballooning debt problems under control to keep the dollar dominant, former IMF official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar's dominance is being threatening by growing debt in the US, economist Barry Eichengreen said. High debt caused the downfall of the British sterling as a global currency in the early 1900s, scholars say. Mounting debt was responsible for the British sterling's downfall as the world's top currency in the early 1900s, Eichengreen said. AdvertisementAdvertisement"Thus, whether the dollar retains its global role will depend not simply on US relations with Russia, China, or the BRICS. But a weaker dollar isn't necessarily a bad thing, as US companies with business overseas can be hurt if the dollar is too strong against local currencies.

Persons: Barry Eichengreen, Eichengreen, there's Organizations: Service, International Monetary Fund, Syndicate, UC Berkeley, Congressional, Office Locations: Wall, Silicon, China, Russia

That sobering view of a post-pandemic global economy emerged from research organized by the Kansas City Federal Reserve and debated here this past weekend. "This puts us in a bleak setting, thinking about the parts of the world that are labor rich but capital poor," he said. "I do remember a time, maybe a more naive time...when more trade would create friends," said Ben Broadbent, deputy governor of the Bank of England. If there was a potential bright spot, it was around the discussion of advances in artificial intelligence as a possible driver of higher productivity. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea RicciOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: JACKSON, Pierre, Olivier Gourinchas, Gourinchas, Maurice Obstfeld, Barry Eichengreen, Eswar Prasad, Donald Trump, Biden, Jared Bernstein, Bernstein, Ben Broadbent, Ngozi Okonjo, Iweala, Trump, Nela Richardson, Howard Schneider, Dan Burns, Andrea Ricci Organizations: Kansas City Federal Reserve, U.S, Monetary Fund, Fed, Peterson Institute for International Economics, International Monetary Fund, University of California, Cornell University, U.S . White House Council, Economic, Biden, Bank of England, Trade Organization, Thomson Locations: , Wyoming, Ukraine, China, West, Washington . China, U.S, Berkeley, Japan, Nigeria, Russian, Europe

Since 2007, worldwide public debt has ballooned from 40% to 60% of GDP, on average, with debt-to-GDP ratios even higher in the advanced countries. That includes the United States, the world's biggest economy, where government debt is now more than double the nation's yearly economic output. Reuters GraphicsDespite mounting worries about the growth-crimping implications of high debt, "debt reduction, while desirable in principle, is unlikely in practice," Serkan Arslanalp, an economist at the International Monetary Fund, and Barry Eichengreen, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in a paper. Inflation, unless it surprises to the upside over an extended period, does little to reduce debt ratios, and debt restructuring for developing countries has become more elusive as the pool of creditors has broadened, Arslanalp and Eichengreen wrote. "High public debts are here to stay," they wrote.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jackson, Barry Eichengreen, Eichengreen, Ann Saphir, Paul Simao Organizations: REUTERS, Kansas City Federal, International Monetary Fund, University of California, Thomson Locations: Saudi, , Wyoming, Jackson Hole , Wyoming, United States, Berkeley

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