'Rich Dad Poor Dad' author Robert Kiyosaki slams the Chinese government — and suggests the country's flare-up in COVID cases that hurt oil prices is just a smoke screen

• "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki suggested in a tweet China's latest COVID-19 outbreak is a hoax.
• "Don't trust them," he said about China, while hinting at a link between lockdowns there and oil prices.

Robert Kiyosaki suggested Tuesday that China's latest outbreak of COVID-19 is a facade, and hinted that the country's reasons behind the lockdown of multiple cities can't be trusted.

The "Rich Dad Poor Dad author" suggested in a tweet that China might have an ulterior motive for imposing lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19.

—therealkiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) March 15, 2022

He also referred to a link between lockdowns in China to the performance of oil prices. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, oil prices hit 14-year highs near $140 a barrel, driven by fears about disruption to supply.

But prices shed around $10 a barrel at the start of this week, driven partly by concern that lockdowns in China — the world's largest oil importer — could hurt demand. One analyst said the prospect of lengthy lockdowns may weigh on crude prices in the coming weeks.

Despite gloom on the coronavirus front, China and Saudi Arabia are reportedly in talks to trade oil in yuan instead of the US dollar — which has been the dominant currency in the global petroleum market. This isn't that surprising, given how strained relations are right now between Riyadh and Washington.

Furthermore, China has avoided condemning Russia, isn't involved in Western sanctions, and, according to US officials, has offered military assistance to Moscow.

In a follow-up tweet, Kiyosaki noted that a deal to pay for Saudi oil in yuan could spell the end of the dollar's dominance as the world's reserve currency.

—therealkiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) March 15, 2022

However, the dollar possibly losing its place in the pecking order of global currencies isn't a new narrative.

"Stories of the dollar's demise as the pre-eminent global reserve currency have been around almost as long as the dollar has been the pre-eminent global reserve currency," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said.

"More directly, Saudi Arabia maintains a dollar peg, so some level of dollar dependence will persist in the kingdom," he added.

Read more: Goldman Sachs warns that the ongoing Ukraine crisis could trigger a global economic downturn — and identifies the 3 sectors that will be worst affected by wartime supply shocks