Dubai: Anticipating a revaluation of the dirham, money exchanges in the UAE have already revised the rates at which they sell local currency against other currencies.
Some have even stopped accepting the US dollar altogether as the market speculated the UAE Central Bank would revalue the dirham today. A currency dealer at Hadi Exchange said on Friday the exchange was not accepting the US dollar until Sunday. "We think the Central Bank is going to fix the dirham at 3.5 per dollar," he told Gulf News.
UAE Exchange was offering Dh3.50 for every US dollar. While Thomas Cook was offering Dh3.25 per dollar on Friday, Al Ghurair Exchange was offering just 3.10 per dollar. Wall Street Exchange said it was not accepting the US currency against the dirham.
Central Bank warning
Staff at Al Ghurair Exchange told Gulf News that they are expecting a revaluation.
Meanwhile, retail giant Carrefour said on Saturday that they have suspended accepting dollars for a day.
Many exchange houses told Gulf News on Saturday that it posed a huge risk for them to buy dollars at the officially pegged rate. "The low demand has forced us to offer lower rates on dollar," said Sudhir Shetty, General Manager of UAE Exchange Centre.
Meanwhile, UAE central bank governor Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi warned speculators against betting on the dirham.
"Their speculation will not yield the gains they expect," Al Suwaidi was quoted as saying by Al Khaleej.
Have your say
What do you think about this latest move by UAE money exchange houses? Tell us how this will affect your daily budget.
Your comments
Everyone in this region is suffering due to high inflation rates. Pushing the UAE currency to its actual value will help lower inflation rate which, in turn, will positively affect everyones pockets.
Amr
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: December 02, 2007, 11:37
It's good move. We are all waiting for this decision.
Sreejith
A Ain,UAE
Posted: December 01, 2007, 18:24
UAE has a powerful economy for the past 10 years, the reason being the huge investment in real estate and infrastructure boom. The decision we are expecting from the Central Bank is that the dirham will revalued at least by 5%.The exchange houses re refixing the dollar rate because of this expectation. Revaluation will help to prevent the inflation as well as give a good exchange rate for all Asian residents.
A. Kabeer
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: December 01, 2007, 18:09
It is a fact that the US dollar is facing a major problem and no one wants to be a victim.
UAE will have think twice prior to set any fix rate, incase of any change in current USD rate it will have signicant impact on the money exchanger, however, a common man will not have any impact.
If USD rate decline Dihram will maintain it's position and it will also help to the exporters.
Tariq Aziz
Dammam P.O.BOX 7091,Saudi Arabia
Posted: December 01, 2007, 17:27
I think it is a very good move to start detagging the dirham from the dollar, and for me as a Canadian citizen, it is a very good thing as well, as my dirham will buy me more Canadian dollars in case they are revalued.
Maher Rabbani
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: December 01, 2007, 17:16
Any revaluation will highly depend upon the amount of UAE sovereign funds and other US Dollar dominated assets the UAE government owns abroad (estimated to be in the billions), as these will negatively be affected if a revaluation takes place.
Nazar
Dubai,UAE
Posted: December 01, 2007, 17:10
