Do Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, etc. use US$ as their reserve currency?
If yes, I am curious why.
Why don't they use Euro or Chinese Yuan?
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Sign up to join this communityDo Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, etc. use US$ as their reserve currency?
If yes, I am curious why.
Why don't they use Euro or Chinese Yuan?
Yes, the United States dollar is the de facto reserve currency.
Why not something else?
China has proposed making a basket of currencies the reserve currency. This could operate similarly to how the special drawing rights of the International Money Fund work. Presumably such a basket would include the US dollar, the Euro, and the Renminbi. It would likely also need to include currencies like the British pound and the Japanese Yen. Perhaps the Indian rupee.
To reiterate, most of the reasons come down to China and Russia not being willing to support the Euro while Europe and the US are not willing to support the Renminbi. Other countries don't do enough of their trading with China or partners who accept the Renminbi to make the switch, which of course keeps other countries from making the switch. This may change over time. Either China or Europe could start doing the hard, expensive work of luring people to their currency.
Generally speaking the answer is Yes, the reserve currency for all countries you listed is the USD. The simple reason for this is that everyone else also uses USD, and that the potential political benefit of switching to something else is outweighed by the economic detriment of having to convert out of/back to USD to trade globally.
That said, there are pushes by several of the countries you listed to change this dollar-dominated global economic system. The Euro is currently the next most viable alternative for a country to use, and Iran has stated that it wishes to receive Euros for its oil. Russia also expressed interest in moving away from receiving USD for its oil, though it didn't specify what would replace USD.
All of the countries you listed may well begin predominantly using Chinese Yuan, it's just that it is only recently that China opened up enough economically for the Yuan to be desirable as something for countries to include in their forex reserves, and USD has a massive head start. Change is slow and impeded by the status quo, but the Yuan is growing and it is likely that those opposed to the USD-dominated global economic system will hop on board.