WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday called the U.S. dollar “extraordinarily strong” due to confidence in America’s economic prospects and said there was no need for a single global currency.

“As far as confidence in the U.S. economy or the dollar, I would just point out that the dollar is extraordinarily strong right now,” Obama told a nationally televised news conference.

“The reason the dollar is strong right now is because investors consider the United States the strongest economy in the world with the most stable political system in the world,” he said. “You don’t have to take my word for it, I think that there is a great deal of confidence that ultimately, although we are going through a rough patch, that prospects for the world economy are very very strong.”

Asked about suggestions by China and Russia that the world move toward a single global currency, Obama said, “I don’t believe that there’s a need for global currency.” (Reporting by David Lawder, editing by Chris Wilson)