WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar will remain the world's primary reserve currency for the foreseeable future, White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said on Wednesday.
"The world does not, I believe, have a viable alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency and (the) broad political role the United States plays in the world very much supports the dollar ... as a reserve currency," said Summers said at the Reuters Washington Summit.
Echoing comments made by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the Reuters summit on Tuesday, Summers said the "most important thing we can do for the dollar is make sure that it rests on strong fundamentals."
Summers, who heads the National Economic Council, also said he takes "very seriously" longer-term concerns about the high U.S. federal debt, and said that was why President Barack Obama's administration had made deficit reduction a central part of its healthcare reform efforts.
Summers and many other economists have long warned that spiraling healthcare costs posed the biggest single threat to U.S. finances as the population ages. (For summit blog: http://blogs.reuters.com/summits/) (Reporting by Caren Bohan, Jeff Mason and Simon Denyer; Writing by Emily Kaiser, Editing by Anthony Boadle)