Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani addressing the opening of the 10th GCC Banking Conference at the Ritz Carlton yesterday
March 25, 2011
‘Gulf closer to realising single currency dream’
Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani has said the GCC countries had “come a long way” in setting up the Gulf Monetary Union and a single currency, which he was confident would involve all the six Gulf countries.
“We have come a long way towards establishing a Gulf Monetary Union by setting up the Gulf Monetary Council and as the dream of having a single Gulf currency has become closer to realisation, I am confident the aspiration of our peoples for unity will expedite this not only in the four member countries in the Gulf Monetary Council, but also for all the six GCC countries,” Sheikh Hamad said in his opening address at the 10th GCC Banking Conference at the Ritz Carlton yesterday.
Terming the “present condition” of the GCC banking system “all right”, the Prime Minister hoped it would continue in future as well.
“As for our aspirations, they are limitless in light of the aspirations of our leaders for a prosperous and promising future for our countries and sustainable development for our people. You are required to reach the required equilibrium between economic growth rate on one hand, and financial stability and price control on the other,” Sheikh Hamad said.
He highlighted the “special nature” of the GCC economies and said these were almost entirely dependent on oil and gas exports.
“Despite what we have achieved up to now in diversifying our sources of income, our returns from oil and gas will remain for years the mainstay of our general expenditure and livelihood. Despite this solid fact, we must understand the importance of the contribution of others sectors- banking, insurance and financial services sector, foremost among them, in the GDP of the GCC countries.
“This sector has been growing steadily in the past decades and was able to achieve outstanding development in its technicalities, products and practices, which to a great extent have helped in safeguarding the position of our banking sector.”
The Prime Minister said “prudent policies” adopted by the Gulf central banks and the support given by the governments of the region were to a great extent behind the achievements made in this field.
Sheikh Hamad, however, said the success made by the Gulf countries in bypassing the consequences of the global financial crisis did not absolve these from “carefully studying” all the details so as to draw lessons and avoid repetition of what has happened.
“If the international regulatory institutions have taken it upon themselves to tighten the controls on banking transactions to protect the resources of depositors and shareholders and achieve financial stability in all countries, our central banks in general and their supervisory departments in particular, must take the matter seriously enough and move quickly to protect local banks through whatever it takes in terms of procedures and decisions.”
He said though no work was totally immune to errors, rectifying these was key to successfully carrying out the task.
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