Weak dollar caused 30 percent of oil price rise: Iran

COLOMBO (Reuters) – The falling value of the dollar is to blame for around a third of the rise in the price of oil, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.

“Thirty percent of the increase (in the price) of oil is because of the decrease in the value of the dollar,” he said on the sidelines of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

He did not say what time period he was referring to. The dollar has dropped 33.8 percent against a basket of six currencies since U.S. President George W. Bush took office on January 20, 2001, according to the New York Board of Trade’s dollar index .DXY.

Reuters