They Will Always Try to Put a SPANNER in the WORKS when the Muslims Tried to
Do Something. AB BOYCOTT the US Dollar
Various Campaigns Around the World Have Asked People to BOYCOTT BRAND
AMERICA, But Most Products With American Brand Names Are NOT Made in the US.
Therefore Refusing to Buy Such Things May Reduce ROYALTIES to America, But Will
NOT Seriously Undermine US ECONOMIC POWER. On the Other Hand, The
LONGEST-LIVED & Most Widely Seen American BRAND in the Rest of the World is
Almost Certainly NOT Coca-Cola NOR McDonalds, But Rather the US DOLLAR.
IMF Casts Doubt on GCC Currency Union By Saifur Rahman, Business News
Editor
Published: 12/04/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/04/12/10117696.html
Dubai: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday casts doubt on the
establishment of the GCC Monetary Union by 2010 saying, "important
preconditions remain to be fulfiled". The Gulf countries need to establish a
common institutional framework in order to realise the GCC Monetary Union by
2010, the IMF, said in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report obtained
by Gulf News yesterday.
"While efforts to enhance policy coordination would be beneficial to the GCC
countries, important preconditions remain to be fulfiled," the report said,
adding, "including the need to better define monetary policy objectives, the
use of more uniform monetary instruments, the establishment of the
institutional framework required to improve the coordination of monetary
policies, and formation of the planned customs union."
Following Oman's announcement of its decision not to join the GCC monetary
union at the scheduled date of 2010, it is reported that the six GCC monetary
authorities are considering possible alternatives, including closer monetary
policy coordination, during the transition to a full monetary union, it said.
Despite the recent high growth and rise in real per capita incomes in the
region, Middle Eastern oil exporters remain heavily dependent on the
hydrocarbon sector.
Unemployment
The current account surplus of the six Gulf countries could decline in the
next two years if the current trend in oil price continues, IMF said. The
report says that the outlook for the oil-producing region as a whole remains
favourable, with some moderation of growth among oil exporters.
"The region's current account surplus is expected to decline from its 2006
level of 18 per cent of regional GDP to around 10.75 per cent of GDP over the
next two years as a result of the decline in oil prices and stronger import
growth," the report said.
At the same time, rapid population growth has contributed to some of the
highest levels of unemployment in the world and relatively low
employment-to-population ratios. "While increased public sector employment has
helped cushion the impact of rising labour supply in a number of GCC countries
in the past, the demand for jobs is outpacing economy-wide supply by increasing
margins," WEO report said.
"The current favourable conjuncture provides a unique opportunity for the
region's oil exporters to implement policies that can address the twin
challenges of diversifying oil-dependent economies and providing employment to
a rapidly expanding labour force. In this context, the ambitious investment
plans of the members of the GCC (totalling over $700 billion during 2006-10)
should make a major contribution."
Dubai government has began implementing a nine-year Dubai Strategic Plan 2015
that will engineer an 11 per cent annual growth in GDP to Dh396.36 billion
($108 billion) by 2015 from the current Dh137.25 billion ($37.4 billion). A
similar plan is being finalised by the federal government.
Kuwait's Ending of Dollar Peg May Affect GCC Plans By Babu Das Augustine,
Banking Editor
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/05/20/10126604.html
Dubai: Kuwait yesterday dropped the dinar's peg to dollar, an action that is
likely to complicate the GCC's move towards monetary union, analysts say. The
central bank's decision to end the dollar peg in favour of a benchmark against
an undisclosed basket of currencies has come as a surprise, they say. "A
revaluation of the currency was long anticipated but not a switch to a basket
of currencies," said Simon Williams, an economist with HSBC Middle East.
Kuwait's decision may have an adverse impact on the GCC's plans to achieve
monetary union by 2010. One criterion was a common monetary policy. With
Kuwait's move to have an independent monetary policy, analysts said the chances
of achieving the currency union are becoming increasingly difficult.
"We did not think that the 2010 deadline was realistic. Now we are becoming
less convinced about its feasibility," said Steve Brice, an economist with
Standard Chartered Bank.
Commitment reaffirmed
Kuwait's action is likely to rankle other GCC states. "While Saudi Arabia is
not going to like the unilateral move by Kuwait, the UAE, which faces growing
public frustration over the exchange rates, has a strong reason to revalue the
dirham," said Brice. Although the UAE Central Bank is yet to officially react
to Kuwait's move, central bank governors of Bahrain and Oman yesterday
reaffirmed their commitment to the dollar peg.
Syria to Drop Dollar Peg in July
by Reuters on Tuesday, 05 June 2007
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13931:syria-to-drop-dollar-peg-in-july&Itemid=0
Syria will drop its peg to the U.S. dollar in July and instead link its
currency to the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Right (SDR), the
central bank governor said on Monday. "We will do it now in July," Governor of
the central bank of Syria Adeeb Mayaleh told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Mayaleh
said in October that the change would take place in the first half of 2007, but
"we needed some time so we slightly delayed it".
Effective Jan. 1, 2006 the IMF set weightings for the SDR, its unit of
account, at 44 % U.S. dollars, 34 % euros and 11 % each of the yen and the
British pound. "(The change) gives more stability to the Syrian pound and it
mitigates the risks of fluctuations of currencies like the euro and dollar,"
Mayaleh said. The euro has risen 2.19 % this year against the dollar, which hit
a record low against the European currency in April.
Syria currently has two exchange rates, one for the market and one for trade.
Syria would be the second Middle Eastern central bank to drop its dollar peg
this year. Kuwait, the Middle East's third-largest oil producer, ended its
dollar peg last month to combat inflation caused by rising costs of imports
denominated in currencies such as the euro.
Kuwait now pegs its dinar to a basket of currencies it uses for its imports
and investments.
Asked about the weighting of the U.S. dollar in Syrian currency reserves,
Mayaleh said: "There will be no change for the moment and we will keep it at
50-50 (dollar/euro), but we might change it later on depending on any new
development." Syria has been reducing its dollar holdings since 2005, when
reserves were entirely in dollars, Mayaleh has said. Syria was already pricing
oil -- a main revenue source -- partly in euros, he has said.
A number of central banks in the Middle East have diversified their reserves
away from the dollar and into the euro.The United Arab Emirates aims to hold 10
% of its reserves in euros by the end of the third quarter of 2007, up from 3
%, central bank governor Nasser al-Suweidi said in January. Egypt's central
bank governor Farouk el-Okdah said in March he had cut the country's U.S.
dollar holdings to around 57 % of reserves from more than 90 %.
AB [EMAIL PROTECTED]
United We Stand Free With DIGINITY. Divided We get ENSLAVED By The Zionist
NEW WORLD ORDER.
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