Nobel-prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz believes that in order to prevent trade imbalances that are well reflected in the US national debt, the greenback should be replaced by the new global reserve currency.

Last week US dollar fell to the 15-month minimum versus euro at $1.4480, while the US trade deficit widened in January to the 7-month maximum of $46.3 billion.

The famous economist says that the position of the United States could be much worse if the situation in Europe wasn’t so severe.

Stiglitz notes that the existing monetary system creates high risk that the period of low growth, inflationary bias and instability will last long. Such system is fundamentally unfair, says the specialist, as it means that poor countries are lending to the US at close to zero interest rates. To finance its budget deficits, the USA sells bonds to overseas investors and governments, boosting the dollar reserves of those nations. According to International Monetary Fund, overseas holdings of dollar reserves rose to $3.14 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year.