Editing Euro (section)

===Use as reserve currency===
Since its introduction in 1999, the euro has been the second most widely held international [[reserve currency]] after the U.S. dollar. The share of the euro as a reserve currency increased from 18% in 1999 to 27% in 2008. Over this period, the share held in U.S. dollar fell from 71% to 64% and that held in RMB fell from 6.4% to 3.3%. The euro inherited and built on the status of the [[Deutsche Mark]] as the second most important reserve currency. The euro remains underweight as a reserve currency in advanced economies while overweight in emerging and developing economies: according to the [[International Monetary Fund]]<ref name="external1">{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/cofer/eng/cofer.pdf |title=Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)&nbsp;– Updated COFER tables include first quarter 2009 data. June&nbsp;30, 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref> the total of euro held as a reserve in the world at the end of 2008 was equal to $1.1&nbsp;trillion or €850&nbsp;billion, with a share of 22% of all currency reserves in advanced economies, but a total of 31% of all currency reserves in emerging and developing economies.

The possibility of the euro becoming the first international reserve currency has been debated among economists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wage.wisc.edu/uploads/Working%20Papers/chinnfrankel_NBER_eurotopcurrency.pdf |title=Will the Euro Eventually Surpass the Dollar As Leading International Reserve Currency? |access-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825070016/http://www.wage.wisc.edu/uploads/Working%20Papers/chinnfrankel_NBER_eurotopcurrency.pdf |archive-date=25 August 2013 }}</ref> Former [[Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Alan Greenspan]] gave his opinion in September 2007 that it was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the US dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency".<ref>{{Cite news| title=Euro could replace dollar as top currency&nbsp;– Greenspan | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSL1771147920070917 | access-date=17 September 2007 | date=17 September 2007 |work=Reuters}}</ref> In contrast to Greenspan's 2007 assessment, the euro's increase in the share of the worldwide currency reserve basket has slowed considerably since 2007 and since the beginning of the worldwide [[credit crunch]] related recession and [[European debt crisis|European sovereign-debt crisis]].<ref name="external1"/>