BOSTON (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan predicted a "long-term erosion" of the dollar in part because of the US current-account deficit.

The US currency's decline is accelerating, Greenspan said in remarks to a conference of insurance executives in Boston yesterday.

Greenspan's remarks reflect his three-year view that the dollar will weaken when international investors tire of financing the US current-account gap, the broadest measure of trade.

"We are likely to see a long-term erosion of the dollar," said Greenspan, 81, who retired from the central bank in January 2006 after 18 years as chairman and last month published his memoir, "The Age of Turbulence."

The former Fed chief added that the "extraordinary rise" of Canada's and Australia's currencies is the result of higher commodity prices.