Saudi Arabia hopeful UAE, Oman will rejoin monetary union
The Peninsula - 02 September, 2009
Saudi Arabia is still hopeful the United Arab Emirates and Oman will join the planned monetary union of Gulf countries, excluding Yemen.“We have not given up hope in a return by the UAE and Oman to the monetary union scheme,” Muhammad Al Jasser, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said at a news conference.The UAE, the second-largest Arab economy, joined Oman earlier this year in leaving the plan.
The UAE departed in protest after a May 5 decision to base the joint central bank in the Saudi capital Riyadh.“The 2010 monetary union deadline was misunderstood,” Jasser added. “It is for the setting up of mechanisms that will help to achieve the union. The four states will continue legislative proceedings to allow the start of the monetary council ... which can happen in 2010.”
