Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday reaffirmed his proposal to create a completely new currency which countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting could use in oil transactions.
"The hard currency reserves of OPEC countries have been heavily affected" by the fall in the dollar, he said.
"I repeat my suggestion made six months ago at the OPEC summit in Riyadh to create a basket of credible currencies which would be the basis for oil transactions," Ahmadinejad said.
"Or alternatively, that OPEC countries create a new currency for their transactions."
Ahmadinejad reiterated that the fall in the dollar was a prime cause of the world's economic problems, saying it had affected "the world economy and in particular the economy of world energy exporters."