May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he increased his bet against the U.S. dollar on concern that the country's trade deficit will weaken the currency.

``We think that over time that the dollar is likely to decline in value against some of the major currencies,'' said Buffett, 73, in an interview before Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. In the last few months, Berkshire has added ``more than a little bit'' to its foreign currency holdings, he said. They were last disclosed at $12 billion as of yearend.

Foreign currencies represent Buffett's biggest purchase in the last two years. The Berkshire chairman has built a fortune buying undervalued assets and today sees little opportunity in stocks. He bought currencies as the dollar began a 25 percent slump over 24 months and the U.S. current- account deficit ballooned to a record quarterly average of $137.7 billion in the first nine months of 2003.

Buffett, the world's second-wealthiest man, started the meeting, which drew an estimated 15,000 guests, with a video of jokes and skits featuring California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates.

Buffett's Family

Shareholders re-elected the company's board, then Buffett and Vice Chairman Charles Munger fielded questions from the crowd about their investment philosophy, succession plans and reaction to criticism to Buffett's board seat on Coca-Cola Co.

One shareholder questioned the presence of Buffett's wife, Susan, and son, Howard, on the board and suggested that shareholders instead nominate managers of Berkshire's subsidiaries, who may have more business experience and ability to challenge Buffett.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger, 79, dismissed the suggestion, which comes as the board studies succession plans.

``I have known for some time the members of Buffett's family who would take over,'' Munger said. ``Don't worry about it. You should be so lucky.''

Succession Plans

Buffett said he has no intention of retiring. His succession strategy is to split his job, with a chief executive officer running the overall company and a chief investment officer managing its portfolio of securities.

``There will be somebody in charge of investments. There will be one CEO of Berkshire,'' he said. ``Actually my son will be chairman if anything happened to me.''

Thousands of shareholders flock to Omaha each year to hear Buffett's views on the economy and investing. The weekend includes cocktail parties, barbecues and shopping trips led by Buffett.

Buffett also said today that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be keeping interest rates too low as the economy expands and inflation picks up.

``They've perhaps been a little slow in terms of moving up because the economy has heated up considerably,'' he said.

Not Buying Google

Buffett said he's not interested in buying shares in Google Inc.'s initial public offering because the price may be too rich for him.

``It's a fabulous business but my guess is that it comes at a fabulous price,'' he said of the company that runs the world's most-used Internet search engine. ``We'd never buy a public offering. The chances of buying something undervalued in a public offering, it's not our game.''

Google filed plans last week to raise as much as $2.72 billion by selling shares through an electronic auction. Company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page cited Buffett as their inspiration when they announced the offering, quoting Buffett in saying they don't intend to ``smooth'' earnings to satisfy Wall Street analysts. Buffett said he was impressed with the letter.

Buffett, a Coca-Cola board member since 1989, had to defend his own record on corporate governance after 16 percent of Coca-Cola shareholders rejected his re-election on concern about Berkshire's business relationships with the company.

Coca-Cola Controversy

He criticized the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund, and Institutional Shareholder Services, who led the opposition.

``They are doing it by checklists and I don't believe in checklists,'' said Buffett, who added that he had no intention of stepping down from Coca-Cola's audit committee. Berkshire owns Coca-Cola stock valued at more than $10 billion.

Buffett also said he has become an economic adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. He criticized President George W. Bush's tax cuts as ``tilted toward the rich'' saying that they should have helped the poor and the middle class instead of rich people like him.

``Instead I've got way more money in my pocket because of the tax change and I don't think it's a good idea,'' he said.

Shares of Berkshire, which owns energy, aviation, paint and carpet companies, have increased 28 percent in the past year compared with a 19 percent gain for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The shares fell $110 to $93,390 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Friday.

To contact the reporters on this story: David Plumb in Omaha at dplumb@bloomberg.net . Brett Cole in Omaha at 3058 or at coleb@bloomberg.net .