Reports on single Gulf currency launch ‘false’

Dubai: The Gulf Monetary Council has dismissed media reports that it had set a date for the launch of a single currency for Arab Gulf countries.

“The Monetary Council affirms that the reports by some newspapers and websites over the date of the issuing of the single Gulf currency are completely false, not based on accurate information or reliable sources,” the council said in a statement, carried by the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).

The Monetary Council is mandated with placing regulations for the establishment of the Gulf Central Bank and completing the establishment of the Monetary Union.

Media reports this week said that four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would announce the introduction of a common currency by the end of December.

The common currency to be announced by Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be pegged to the Dollar, the reports said, citing sources “close to Gulf decision-making circles.”

Oman and the UAE the other two members of the six-country Gulf council set up in 1981, are not likely to join the common currency in the near future, the source added.

The GCC countries have been discussing a currency union similar to the Eurozone for more than 15 years.

The GCC leaders are scheduled to hold their annual two-day summit in Kuwait on December 10.

In September, an official of the European Central Bank (ECB) said that the GCC should not introduce a common currency before its members have a clear common objective and act in harmony.

Yves Mersch, an executive board member of the ECB, reportedly said at a global financial summit that no union of states would be ready for a common currency if there was no political consensus.