| UAE voices reservation over Gulf central bank |
| Wednesday, 06 May 2009 09:31 |
Riyadh: The UAE has expressed its reservation at a resolution selecting Riyadh as headquarters of the proposed GCC Central Bank. A UAE delegation led by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to the 11th Consultative Summit of the leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, raised the reservation. Earlier, Gulf officials chose the Saudi capital as the location for the regional central bank, GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah said on Tuesday. It was agreed to set up a monetary council in the Saudi capital that will later be upgraded into a central bank, Al Attiyah told reporters after a GCC meeting in Riyadh yesterday. He said details of the agreement would be released later. All Gulf states except Oman are planning a European Union-style single currency to boost regional trade. The currency won't be ready by the proposed start date of 2010, the GCC said. Al Attiyah said on Tuesday that no new target date has been set. John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Riyadh-based Saudi British Bank, said that "the issue of the power of the central bank, the charter of the central bank, the people who will man the central bank and the sovereignty of the central bank" was very significant. He also said the bank should have the "institutional capacity to do what it's supposed to do, which is to be a central bank of the region, not a mere institution Five Gulf states gave their green light last December for the Gulf monetary union, but Oman pulled out of the project. |
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 05:42 |
