Kuwait says work on shared Gulf cbank in '10
Dec 14, 2009 at 19:30
KUWAIT - Work on the forerunner of a joint central bank for Gulf Arab states should start next year but no specific deadline has been set for the launch of a planned single currency, Kuwait's finance minister said on Monday.
Gulf rulers meet in Kuwait on Monday to push forward the long-dragging plan to establish a monetary union in the world's top oil exporting region after a shocking pullout of the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.
"There is no specific plan for the single currency," Mustapha al-Shamali told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. "It (the monetary council) will be established after the decision (at the summit). At the start of the year we will start to work on it."
Only four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council members -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain -- are taking part in the monetary union, originally planned for 2010.
The GCC is a loose political and economic alliance of U.S. allied Gulf nations that also includes Oman. Kuwait will preside over the bloc for a year as of the summit.
The UAE pulled out of the project in May in a protest to site the joint monetary council in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, three years later after Oman did the same.
The Gulf rulers are expected to agree on formation of the monetary council at their Dec. 14-16 summit. The council will set the joint monetary policy until the common central bank is established.
Analysts are closely watching nominations to the new monetary authority for signs of concessions by Saudi Arabia, which might pave the way for a return of the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, at a later stage.
Dec 14, 2009 at 19:30
KUWAIT - Work on the forerunner of a joint central bank for Gulf Arab states should start next year but no specific deadline has been set for the launch of a planned single currency, Kuwait's finance minister said on Monday.
Gulf rulers meet in Kuwait on Monday to push forward the long-dragging plan to establish a monetary union in the world's top oil exporting region after a shocking pullout of the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.
"There is no specific plan for the single currency," Mustapha al-Shamali told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. "It (the monetary council) will be established after the decision (at the summit). At the start of the year we will start to work on it."
Only four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council members -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain -- are taking part in the monetary union, originally planned for 2010.
The GCC is a loose political and economic alliance of U.S. allied Gulf nations that also includes Oman. Kuwait will preside over the bloc for a year as of the summit.
The UAE pulled out of the project in May in a protest to site the joint monetary council in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, three years later after Oman did the same.
The Gulf rulers are expected to agree on formation of the monetary council at their Dec. 14-16 summit. The council will set the joint monetary policy until the common central bank is established.
Analysts are closely watching nominations to the new monetary authority for signs of concessions by Saudi Arabia, which might pave the way for a return of the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, at a later stage.