Monday, March 19, 2007

Will we see a petrodinar?

A recent Credit Suisse piece discusses the prospects of the planned Gulf currency.

... the GCC (union of the countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) is also planning to implement monetary union. It is hoped to launch the "Gulf currency", which will be linked to the US dollar, by January 2010.
... A study by the Gulf Research Center in Dubai concludes that the Gulf currency could play a very prominent role and therefore raises the question of a possible dependency. According to this study, the Gulf currency could replace the US dollar as the invoicing currency for oil products, serve as an Islamic currency, and even mature into a reserve currency. However, Credit Suisse views this assessment critically and considers it unlikely...

There are plans afoot in Dubai. The ambition is clear: to enable a break from the system of the petrodollar while avoiding mere replacement by a petroeuro. Whether they will eventually achieve a viable petrodinar is an open question.

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