World Bank President: Time To Diversify Out Of The Dollar
According to Robert Zoellick, World Bank President and former Goldman Sachs head and US Secretary of State, you shouldn’t take the US Dollar’s reserve currency status for granted. Swelling government deficits and the strength of emerging countries is weakening the demand for the dollar. Time to head for the exits?
So how should you diversify out of the dollar?
According to Zoellick, the Euro and the Chinese Yuan are good alternatives (source: BusinessWeek). But a lot of people think that investing in a basket of currencies is a better approach. In the short-term, currency volatility is unpredictable since exchange rates are more likely to be impacted by government policy than fundamentals. In the long term, all fiat currencies devalue and buying gold and silver is probably a better bet. But if you really want to park your savings in cash, consider a currency that has stronger fundamentals the the US dollar, the British pound and euro.
Until 2000, the Swiss Central Bank had a legal requirement to hold 40% of its reserves in gold. This requirement has been relaxed to around 20%, but in terms of volatility the Swiss franc is still one of the most stable currencies. You can purchase the Swiss franc via the Currencyshares ETF (FXF) quite easily.
The Canadian dollar (FXC) and the Australian dollar (FXA) are two more strong currencies. The governments are both fiscally conservative and have, until recently, been running surpluses instead of multi-trillion dollar deficits. They’re also commodity based economies, rich in natural resources with strong ties to the rest of the world. In a situation of high inflation, commodity-based currencies should hold up better than the US dollar.
With China being Jim Rogers’ favorite place, the Chinese yuan (or remnimbi) is a another alternative. As their internal economy grows, maintaining a stronger currency will make imports of raw materials cheaper. Of course, this is probably several years in to the future but with millions of Chinese rising out of poverty, its a likely scenario. Also, China has publicly said that they’re looking to diversify out of the dollar and are considering buying gold as one option. You can invest in Chinese yuan through Everbank.
Disclosures: I own gold, silver, Australian CurrencyShares ETF (FXA), and a basket of currencies CD with Everbank.
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October 5th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I saw a question and answer session with Ron Paul on TV last night regarding monetary policy reform. I really like his ideas of a gold standard and getting rid of the FED.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Question for ya- since you mention Canada, what do you think about Canadian banks as a investment that doubles as a hedge against the dollar? Their banks are solid thanks to Canada’s much more solid financial regulations, and there are only a handful that really dominate the industry. Plus they are pay a healthy dividend.