- JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters)
-- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has told Saudi Arabians
they should sell oil for gold, not U.S. dollars, to avoid being "short-changed"
by a decline in the U.S. currency.
-
- "The price of oil is $33, but the U.S. dollar has
declined by 40 percent against the euro so you're effectively getting $20,"
Mahathir told an economic conference in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of
Jeddah on Sunday. "So you're being short-changed."
-
- Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has justified
higher world oil prices by saying they are necessary to compensate for
the slide in the U.S. currency.
-
- Mahathir, who retired last October, spent much of his
time in office upsetting Western governments and defying their economic
orthodoxies. But he became a respected spokesman in Islamic and developing
states and received an ovation in Jeddah.
-
- He suggested countries tally their total annual imports
and exports and settle the difference at the end of the year in "gold
dinars."
-
- Sounding a discordant note, Mahathir also warned Saudi
Arabia against rushing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying
it was not necessarily a positive move.
-
- Saudi Trade Minister Hashem Yamani said on Saturday his
country had narrowed differences with the United States that were holding
up accession to the organization and said he wanted to join "tomorrow."
-
- "Everybody should be careful before joining the
WTO because it is not all positive. It can be very negative if you don't
handle it properly," Mahathir said. "They try to impose their
agenda without regard for some other countries."
-
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