petrodollar
(ˈpɛtrədɒlə(r))
[f. petro-2 + dollar.]
A notional unit of currency available in a petroleum-exporting country. Freq. attrib. of the surplus of petroleum exports over imports of all other goods, and in pl.
| 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 27 Aug. 7/1 What emerged in Washington..was a growing concern over the swiftly accelerating petrodollar holdings of the Arabs. (Petro⁓dollars are defined as the excess foreign-exchange assets of the oil-producing countries)... There simply isn't sufficient data on the flow of petrodollars. Ibid. 7/6 Still, the question of petrodollars and their potential recycling into U.S. industries..is something officials and analysts are studying. 1974 Ld. Gladwyn in Hansard Lords 5 Nov. 310 The loan to Italy, the sugar deal, which they approved; the beginning of petro-dollar recycling are all instances in point. 1974 Financial Times 21 Nov. 23/3 The size of the ‘petrodollar’ surplus—defined as the current earnings of the OPEC countries over and above what they can spend on imports—has been estimated at about $60 bn. [sc. thousand million] this year. 1975 Times 8 Jan. 1/6 Two suggested schemes for recycling surplus petrodollars to deficit countries. 1976 Time 27 Dec. 21/1 Problems of inflation, devaluation and petro⁓dollars intimately bind our economy and that of other nations into a common system. 1977 Time 18 July 39/1 In Aspen, Colo. the Empress..danced away the Fourth of July at a local night-spot and dropped some petrodollars in Aspen shops. |