Steinbrück: US no longer world finance leader

Germany’s finance minister has given the United States a stark warning, blaming today’s global financial crisis on America’s culture of double-digit profits and massive bonuses. Peer Steinbrück told Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, that the US will lose its status as the world’s financial superpower. “That doesn’t mean the dollar will suddenly stop being the leading currency but it will be more and more complemented by the euro. The yen will play an important role, so will the Chinese Yuan, so I think the world will become more multi-polar,” he said.

As the Franco-German summit on the downturn’s possible effect on Europe drew to a close, Ireland became the first country in the Euro-zone to slide into recession this year. The second successive quarterly fall in Gross Domestic Product is Ireland’s poorest performance in 25 years, after the country’s property-bubble burst.

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