Obama: Strong confidence in dollar

Calls from China and other emerging economies for the creation of a new global currency to replace the US dollar are unnecessary because confidence in the dollar is "extraordinarily strong", Barack Obama has said.In a televised news conference on Tuesday which focused heavily on the economic crisis, the US president rejected the idea of moving away from the dollar as the world's main reserve currency.The head of China's central bank had earlier called for the introduction of a new single currency, to be overseen by the International Monetary Fund.Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said the global financial crisis had exposed the danger of relying on one nation's currency for international payments.The crisis, he said, had shown the "inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system".In an online essay published in both English and Chinese, Zhou said the move to a new single currency would give governments - particularly in the developing world - the ability to manage their economies more efficiently.