Chinese currency will eclipse dollar in 10-15 years: economist

Arvind Subramanian says US should be willing to give power to China in multi-lateral institutions in return for a stake for China

A renowned US-based Indian economist Friday predicted that Chinese currency renminbi will eclipse the dollar in global trading systems within 10 to 15 years.

Arvind Subramanian, named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers in 2011, stated this while delivering a talk on "US-China Partnership and Global Economic Order: Implications for India" at the Observer Research Foundation here.

Subramanian, Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Senior Fellow, Centre for Global Development, said with Europe becoming a debtor now, the US and European Union should cede their power to China in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

He said the US should be willing to give power to China in multi-lateral institutions in return for a stake for China.

Criticising China's move for a BRICS bank, Subramanian suggested that Beijing should instead strengthen the world monetary institutions like the IMF and the World Bank.

He said for India too, it was better to strengthen the IMF and WB instead of going along with the idea of creating the BRICS bank where it may have to face the hegemony of China.

Subramanian said with China playing ball with big powers, India was getting isolated and marginalized at the WTO in Geneva.

He suggested that India should have a free trade agreement with the US also, and this would help both the countries.

Subramanian, who had earlier served in the IMF and GATT, said he was against any move to contain China. He instead favoured multilateral open architectures.