<B>Saudi Bank Governor Denies Talks to Replace Dollar </B>(Update1)
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By Camilla Hall
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia hasnât held talks with other oil producers and major consuming nations such as China on moving away from the dollar as the currency used to buy and sell oil, Saudi Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser said.
Al-Jasser, speaking to reporters in Istanbul where heâs attending an International Monetary Fund summit, was denying a report in the London-based Independent newspaper, which said today that Gulf oil producers and customers including China and Brazil had held secret talks on phasing out the dollar in oil pricing.
The Independent report is âabsolutely incorrectâ and there has been âabsolutely nothingâ of that nature discussed between Saudi Arabia and other countries, al-Jasser said.
The dollar pared losses against the euro following al- Jasserâs comments, trading at $1.4713 as of 7:52 a.m. in London, from $1.4648 in New York yesterday. It weakened to $1.4749 earlier on the Independent story. It was at 89.34 yen, from 89.53 yesterday, after falling to 88.86.
The Independent report, which cited unidentified Gulf officials and unidentified Chinese bankers, said that government ministers and central bank officials from Russia, China, Japan and Brazil had held meetings to discuss the plan, which it said is due to be introduced by 2018.
Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said at a news conference in Tokyo today that he âdoesnât know anything about it,â when he was asked about the newspaper report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Camilla Hall in Dubai at
chall24@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 6, 2009 03:06 EDT
Oman, UAE, Japan, Russia, Algeria all denied it too so far
