Gulf Arabs could drop dollar pegs in unison

[TexasLawyer]

Source: Reuters

Gulf Arabs could drop dollar pegs in unison
Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:13am EDT

By Daliah Merzaban

DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf Arab oil producers, torn between rising inflation and exchange rates fixed to a sliding dollar, could consider switching together to a currency basket to buy time for a troubled monetary union project.

A region-wide shift could catch investors unawares after months of market speculation that the United Arab Emirates or Qatar would break ranks with their neighbors and unshackle their currencies from the dollar as Kuwait did this year.

So far, most bets on currency appreciation have focused on signs that Gulf states are drifting apart after Oman chose not to join monetary union by 2010, Kuwait switched to a currency basket in May and a U.S. rate cut divided central banks in the world's top oil-exporting region.

But signals from the banks and growing pressure on Saudi Arabia to tackle inflation suggest markets waiting for one country to revalue may be barking up the wrong tree. "I think they will stick to multilateralism," said Marios Maratheftis, regional head of research at Standard Chartered Bank.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSL3068734920071030

[Eurobabe]

1. So will we fucking bomb them too?

:eyes:

:sarcasm:

[atreides1]

2. All in good time

You can't rush things all the time you know.;)

[pierre790]

3. Things just keep getting worse..

Have you ever wondered what it was like in the Soviet Union before the Berlin wall came down?

[Warpy]

4. Nobody has to wonder about those things any more. We know.

It's amazing to me just how fast the GOP have transformed this country to a third world backwater. The conservatives have only been in power 38 years. Reaganomics and supply side nonsense that have beggared everyone who works for a living have only been in play for 26 years.

It sure doesn't take much to kill an economy, does it?

[harun]

6. Your first post is great one

Welcome to DU, (if you are new).

If other countries want to make things bad in a hurry for the U.S. it won't be difficult. Dollar is already tanking. People are nervous about it already. It would only take a few countries, not even big ones for the bottom to fall out.

[Strelnikov_]

10. Not any more

Welcome.

[Deja Q]

5. I know! Let's have the Fed lower interest rates again! That'll fix it!

:crazy:

[Strelnikov_]

11. Another half point drop coming in, what, about 9 hours

Oil up those printing presses, Helicopter Ben.

[annabanana]

7. Hey DU money-men. .

What would this do?

[LibertyorDeath]

8. If they have half a brain between them...

[Strelnikov_]

9. Thats gonna leave a mark n/t