Mahathir Mohamad Quotes

The IMF and other multilateral institutions do not appear to have prevented nations from manipulating the value of their own currencies.

If raising or allaying [revaluing or devaluing] the Money could add to its Value, or have any good Effect on Home or Foreign Trade; Then no Nation would want Money [from that nation.]

China became the second biggest economy in the world by pegging their currency to the dollar at an artificially cheap rate.

Governments have a tendency to screw up currencies.

We don't really believe there's much room for the creation of new currencies if there is no real backing for a hard and credible issuer of that currency.

As long as the dollar remains in high esteem as a trade currency, America can continue to spend more than it earns. But when the day arrives - as it certainly must - when the dollar tumbles and foreigners no longer want it, the free ride will be over.

When a population saves a lot, the funds are invested outside the country as well as inside. If the Japanese invest in the United States, it pushes their exchange rate down and makes their manufacturing more competitive.

Is a currency worth anything if no one wants it? We used to buy shoes in Italy. Remember?

There's a lot of companies that profit from a weak dollar.

If a currency is to become a growing, an increasing reserve currency, there has to be not only a demand for it there has to be a supply of it.

Japan rose from the ashes of World War II as a 'trading state,' the model for export-led growth. It is not clear that the old export model of growth will be sustainable in a more 'balanced' global economy that does not rely so heavily on the U.S. consumer.

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.

When America closes its doors, so does everybody else. We are the primary engine of growth in the world and we are the only beacon of free trade left, and open markets.

It is very important for people to understand that the United States of America and no country around the world can devalue its way to prosperity, to be competitive. It is not a viable, feasible strategy, and we will not engage in it.

A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.

The leaders of the world's largest economies agreed during the November 2008 G20 summit not to create barriers hindering global trade and capital flows. Russia shares these principles.

The reserve currency role seems to add prestige to an area and some people in Europe have talked about the desirability of the euro becoming an international reserve currency.

The power to regulate the value of money does not involve a power to dilute the value of money by inflation, an absurd and self-serving rendering.

The 200 years when Britain and the US were the top two economies were an aberration and that will change. The decline of empires has happened much faster than folks think. I believe that gold will be a far better bet in 20 years than the dollar.

Long before we wake up from our dream of prosperity through an inflated currency, our gold … will have vanished and no rate of interest will tempt it to return.

Economic security is a very important part of foreign policy.

No nation, rich or poor, democratic or authoritarian, can escape the fundamental economic imperatives of the global market. No nation can escape its discipline. No nation can avoid its responsibility to do its part

Hegemony of the dollar.

... a baseless currency varying every fifty miles and fluctuating everywhere.

The most important quality of a currency is its stability.