"In our view, we must create a single world currency under the aegis of the United Nations," Nazarbayev said, a day before a major economic conference opens in his Central Asian country.

"We must make a transition to an absolutely new global currency system based on legitimacy and, in view of all countries, one single monetary system," he told a meeting of the Eurasian Association of Universities.

This is the first time Nazarbayev has spoken publicly about the need for a single world currency although he has previously written about it.

He first called for the creation of a world-wide currency, to be called acmetal – a combination of acme, a Greek word meaning the peak or the best, and capital – in an article published last month.

In the article in Russia’s Rossiskaya Gazeta, Nazarbayev suggested that once a single currency system was in place, the world might consider changing the term used to describe global finance from capitalism to acmetalism.

Kazakhstan, an energy-rich Central Asian state, has enjoyed growth rates of up to 10 percent over the last years but it has been hit, like its ex-Soviet neighbours, by the credit crunch as well as the dramatic fall in oil prices.

Last week, the president introduced an additional 600 billion tenge (EUR 3.15 billion, CHF 4.6 billion) in public spending programmes intended to spur growth in the ex-Soviet state’s sputtering economy.

The annual Astana Economic forum, held in Kazakhstan’s new capital Astana, brings together economists and representatives to discuss the economy. The focus this year is to be on weathering the global crisis.

AFP / Expatica