UAE says reserves shift not political

In an interview with the Financial Times, the United Arab Emirates' central bank governor confirmed a strategic decision had been taken to move 10 per cent of its $29bn foreign exchange reserves into euros.

In the FT interview, Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi denied that the move was prompted by political motives and predicted that Gulf Arab countries would shift from the dollar peg to a floating exchange rate after the introduction of a single currency, scheduled for 2010.

Mr al-Suwaidi dismissed