The power (and the limits) of the American dollar

The dollar-doubters have become vocal once again. (Image: Getty)

Mon, 01 May 2023

Every so often, an appetite surges for an alternative reserve currency to the dollar – and a market booms in predictions of the greenback’s imminent demise. For nearly three-quarters of a century the dollar has at a global scale dominated trade, finance and the rainy-day reserve portfolios of central banks. Yet high inflation, fractious geopolitics and the sanctions imposed by America and its allies on countries such as Russia have lately caused dollar-doubters to become vocal once again.Often these episodes are fuelled by...

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