Monday, July 7, 2008

Report: Emirates calls on GCC countries to depeg currencies from US dollar to curb inflation

The Associated Press
Sunday, July 6, 2008

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates: A newspaper in the United Arab Emirates says the tiny Gulf state's government is lobbying neighboring countries to depeg their currencies from the U.S. dollar to curb inflation.

The National, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi ruling family, reported Sunday that the UAE is calling on all six Gulf Cooperation Council member states to "rethink" their monetary policy amid soaring inflation in the oil-rich region.

It cited an internal report by Abu Dhabi's Department of Planning and Economy.

The GCC members are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. All of their currencies are pegged to the dollar except Kuwait, which depegged its currency, the dinar, from the dollar in May 2007 in favor of a basket of currencies.

The Energy Non Crisis

The Energy Non Crisis