Is a global currency emerging?

Ahead of the G-20 meeting slated for April 2 in London, some influential world leaders are clamoring for a global currency arguing that it would remedy the world's current economic woes.

Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has been voicing his belief that the ruble should be used as a regional reserve currency.

President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, pitched the idea of a global currency called the "acmetal" which is a fusion of the words "acme" and "capital." And according to the Moscow Times he also suggested, "that the Eurasian Economic Community, a loose group of five former Soviet republics including Kazakhstan and Russia, adopt a single noncash currency -- the yevraz -- to insulate itself from the global economic crisis."

Reuters reported last week that a United Nations panel plans to announce their recommendation that the dollar should be "ditched" as the world's reserve currency in favor of a "shared basket" of currencies. The shared basket of currencies apparently will function as a conglomeration of currencies much like the old European Currency Unit.

Canadian economist and Nobel prize winning professor Robert Mundel is also pushing for a global currency. Mundel is credited as the intellect behind the creation of the Euro.

In a move that will likely further weaken the dollar, the Federal Reserve last week announced that it will put $1 trillion into the system by buying debt from the U.S. Treasury. The further weakening of the dollar will certainly propel the plans of the global currency proponents.

Needless to say, the G-20 meeting will undoubtedly be filled much discussion not just on whether or not the would should move to a global currency, but on how to actually move the world to a global currency. Perhaps this is part of what British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was referring to a few days ago when he said a global New Deal could happen in months.