Can an international reserve currency be issued by a country that has external surpluses?
A currency is an international reserve currency if the assets issued in that currency are largely held by non-residents. This seems to require that the countries which issue an international reserve currency have external debt, and therefore a chronic external deficit (this is the case of the United States, to a limited extent the United Kingdom, but not the euro zone or the core euro-zone countries and not Japan or China). Can a country (a region) that has external surpluses and therefore net external assets nevertheless issue a reserve currency? It must have substantial gross external debt, so, if it does not have net external debt, it must have an international intermediation activity, borrowing abroad to finance purchases of foreign assets. This is the case of the United Kingdom, the euro zone and the core euro-zone countries, but not China or Japan.