World Scrambles to Boost Buck

Central banks around the world are stepping up measures to keep the American dollar strong and their own currencies weak. The dollar 's drop to near 15-month lows this week sparked fears that exports will become uncompetitive, threatening their fragile economic recoveries. Pacific Rim countries are especially concerned that China—which links its currency to the dollar—is able to keep exports low and price out competition, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner repeated a pledge this week to try to keep the dollar strong, although the administration has taken few concrete steps toward doing so as a weak dollar continues to help US exporters. Asian finance ministers meet this week in Singapore, where they're expected to address both the weak US dollar and China's refusal to make its currency more flexible.
(More US dollar stories.)