The United Arab Emirates hopes it and Oman will rejoin a planned Gulf single currency project one day, UAE economy minister was quoted as saying by a Saudi newspaper on Sunday, ahead of a Gulf rulers summit this week. Rulers from Gulf Arab countries will meet in UAE capital Abu Dhabi on December 6-7 to discuss political, security and financial issues affecting the world's top oil exporting region.
"The Emirates still hope that there will be a single currency for the countries of the (Gulf Co-operation) Council one day," Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri told Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah. The second largest Arab economy withdrew from the project last year in protest against placing the joint monetary council in rival Saudi Arabia. UAE policymakers had said rejoining was not on the table unless it is profitable.
Neighbouring non-Opec Oman pulled out in 2006 and ruled out any comeback. Only four countries from the six-nation GCC - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain - remained committed to form the long-delayed monetary union but the project made little progress this year with the eurozone debt crisis limiting its appeal.
Comments
Comments are closed.