The international role of the euro has declined in several areas, notably in the debt and foreign exchange markets, while the dollar remains the world's dominant currency, the European Central Bank said in report Monday. The euro share in the stock of international debt securities fell for the first time since the start of the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999, the ECB said in its sixth review of the international role of the euro. It fell about 2.5 percentage points to 31.4% in the 18 months to December 2006. The decline was most pronounced in the market for long-term securities as higher U.S. interest rates buoyed demand for dollar-denominated debt, the ECB said. The euro's role in foreign exchange markets also slipped. Its share in daily settlements fell to about 39% during the review period from close to 41% previously, the report said. At the same time, the U.S. dollar share was broadly stable at 92.5%, confirming the greenback's dominant role. The sum of the currency percentage shares is 200 percentage points as both currencies involved in the settlement of a foreign exchange trade are counted individually. The euro share in exports of goods from the 13 countries that use the euro stabilized, but its share in goods' imports fell notably. The ECB said that may have been related to developments in energy markets. Crude oil, like many other commodities, is denominated in dollars. The dollar's dominant role also becomes apparent when comparing foreigners' appetite for euros and dollars. While at the end of 2006 the value of dollar bank notes in circulation was comparable to that of euro bank notes, the value of dollars circulating outside the U.S. was "about four to six times greater than the value of nonresident holdings of euro bank notes," the ECB said.