Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday he expects the U.S. dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency as long as democratic institutions and the rule of law remain in place in the U.S.

“The status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is a very important thing to us,” Powell told the House Financial Services Committee. “I think the reason we have that status is largely due to our great democratic institutions, the rule of law, and the fact that we have, generally speaking, had strong levels of price stability.”

“I think the dollar will remain the reserve currency as long as those things are in place,” he said.

The dollar share of official FX reserves fell to a 20-year low of 58% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to International Monetary Fund data.

History shows that global reserve currency status “is not a permanent status, but it is a lasting one,” Powell said when lawmakers revisited the topic later in the session.

He said there was no other country that combined features such as rule of law, price stability, strong democratic institutions, and open capital accounts.

“I think in the case of the United States, as long as we maintain those characteristics of our government and our country we can continue to be the world’s reserve currency,” he said.

(Reporting by Ira Iosebashvili; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Jane Merriman)