ECB Trichet: No Reason For Dollar To Fall Vs Euro - Bloomberg

FRANKFURT -- There is no reason for the dollar to fall against the euro in the interest of "rebalancing" world economic growth, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told Bloomberg television Monday.

"It does not at all, at all imply a change in the bilateral position of the dollar and the euro," Trichet said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul.

The euro has risen over 13% against the dollar since mid-April, as emergency moves by central banks and governments to reflate the global economy have gradually restored confidence to global markets, tempting participants to leave the "safe haven" of the dollar where they all sought refuge during last year's financial crisis.

Trichet repeated that he "enormously" appreciates the U.S. authorities' preference for a strong dollar. But Trichet acknowledged that some currencies "have in the medium run to appreciate vis-a-vis the dollar and the euro."

He didn't elaborate on which currencies he meant. But earlier Monday, Trichet's colleague on the ECB's governing council, Deutsche Bundesbank President Axel Weber, said numerous Asian countries are running monetary policies that are too loose for their economic circumstances, owing to their desire to keep nominal exchange rates stable against the dollar.

Weber said he expects further steps to make exchange rates more flexible, but gave no timeframe.

The comments from ECB officials come in the wake of renewed international commitments by the world's largest economies to try to make the structure of world economic growth more sustainable, by relying less on U.S. consumers and more on consumption in the export-oriented economies of Asia, notably China's.