GCC Central Bank to be located in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: The UAE will host the headquarters of the GCC Central Bank, the country's top banker said yesterday.

Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the UAE Central Bank, also said a future common GCC currency should not be pegged to the US dollar.

Al Suwaidi was speaking to reporters in Singapore after receiving the Central Bank Governor of the Year Award for the Middle East by Emerging Markets.

He said the GCC states have already agreed to base the new GCC Central Bank in Abu Dhabi. The GCC monetary union is expected to be in place in 2010, which will also see the launch of a common currency.

Single currency

Referring to the common GCC currency, Al Suwaidi said: "It would not make real sense to have a single currency and keep it linked to a strong hard currency. By 2015 I think we should have a free-floating currency."

Earlier this month, Al Suwaidi told Gulf News that the UAE dirham will continue to be pegged to the dollar, but the single currency would be floated within a few years. He dismissed the idea of pegging it to a basket of currencies as "there will always be a dominant currency in a basket."