The weak U.S. dollar is expected to come under scrutiny at the Group of 20 Summit of leading industrial and developing countries following Chinese calls to review its role as a reserve currency. The dollar issue is likely to emerge at the two-day meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as President Barack Obama an other leaders debate a new framework for addressing global economic imbalances blamed for fueling the latest financial crisis. Many economists believe the financial crisis resulted from imbalances between savings and investment in major economies, which have led to big deficits, as seen in the United States, and big surpluses, as seen in China. Beijing was the first to call for a new global currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar as the U.S. deficit soared. The White House estimates it could reach $9 trillion over a decade. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern in March about the safety of his country's huge U.S. bond holdings now worth more than $800 billion, making China the largest creditor to the United States. Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who supervises more than $2 trillion worth of dollar reserves, later called for a new reserve currency in place of the dollar. He wanted the new reserve currency to be based on the “special drawing right” (SDR) created by the International Monetary Fund, winning immediate support from Russia, Brazil, and several other countries.
