LONDON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The de-dollarization process has accelerated especially after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow following the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the London-based The New Arab news website has reported.
"The question is about when, not if, the hegemony of the U.S. dollar will end, with more countries across the Global South seeking alternatives," said the report on Wednesday.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the West's response marked "a major turning point" in the movement against the U.S. dollar, it said.
"As a result of Washington imposing sweeping sanctions on Moscow, freezing Russia's U.S. dollar reserves, and removing major Russian banks from SWIFT, de-dollarization has accelerated," it said.
The report said that by waging all-out financial warfare against Russia, Washington has pushed more countries across the Global South to seek alternatives to the U.S. dollar.
It is important to note that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members are not the key drivers of this movement away from the dollar, but GCC states are responding to de-dollarization pragmatically.
"If a new system is emerging, it makes sense to be able to engage it, as a matter of economic prudence," Omar Al-Ubaydli, the president of the Bahrain Economists Society, was quoted as saying.
