UAE sees 'some form' of Gulf monetary union by 2010

The United Arab Emirates sees "some form" of Gulf Arab monetary union set up by 2010, despite differences among the six energy producers,the UAE central bank governor said on Friday.
Oman cast doubt on Tuesday on the timetable for monetary union in the world's biggest oil exporting region, saying for the first time the 2010 agreed deadline might not be met.
"In my opinion in 2010 there will be some form of a currency and monetary union," Governor Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi said, adding this meant that notes and coins from the new currency would be in citizens' hands.
Suweidi told Reuters in an interview that Oman's doubts about the timetable were likely related to the supervision of the banking sector, which he said was not an essential element of currency union.
Suweidi said he did not believe other Gulf countries doubted the 2010 timetable.
"I think (Oman's central bank governor) was talking about achieving all three dimensions of monetary union - monetary union, banking supervision, distribution of currency. I don't think we need to do all these things by 2010," he said.
Technical preparations for the single currency were well advanced, down to the colours of the banknotes, with the currency's name, the location of the Gulf central bank and political issues relating to bank supervision left undecided, Suweidi said.
On Tuesday, Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali, executive president of Oman's central bank, said: "We support monetary union ... but we think we may not be able to achieve it by 2010, although we are working hard to achieve it."
He said other nations shared his concerns about the deadline. The economic targets were achievable, but Gulf states had made little progress on a customs union that went into effect in 2003 to help prepare for integration, Zadjali said.
"They have implemented customs union but not to the full satisfaction of the countries," he said. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have pegged their currencies to the dollar in preparation for monetary union.