Euro could replace dollar as top currency-Greenspan

BERLIN, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The euro could replace the U.S. dollar as the world's primary reserve currency, a German magazine quoted former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as saying on Monday.

Greenspan told weekly Stern it was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency," the magazine said in a preview of this week's edition.

The dollar no longer had much of a lead over the euro, he said, adding that the European Central Bank had "developed into a global economic force to be taken seriously."

Greenspan, whose memoir "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World" hits bookshelves on Monday, said the euro region had profited from the strength of the European single currency.

Its use as a reserve currency had led to a drop in euro-zone interest rates and "without doubt contributed to the current economic expansion," he added.