Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency - Annual Report 2005
According to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency's Annual Report 2005, the Saudi economy continued to record growth in all its sectors during 2005.
UAE's Al Suwaidi sees union of 'one form' by 2010
The governor of the UAE central bank told reporters Friday 22 December that one form of a Gulf single currency union will be introduced by the current deadline of 2010.
Review possible on GCC union deadline
Saudi Arabia's finance minister said Tuesday 19 December in an interview with Reuters the GCC states may have to review the 2010 target date for introducing the single currency after Oman's decision to miss the deadline.
SAMA's annual report for 2005
Saudi Arabia's economy grew at 6.5% in real terms and inflation nudged up but was still less than 1% in 2005, the country's central bank notes in its annual report.
Saudi Arabia may bid to host GCC central bank
Saudi Arabia may join Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in a bid to host the GCC's future central bank, Gulf News reported Tuesday 31 October.
Riyadh to host payment systems conference
A two-day international conference on 'Payment Systems in Saudi Arabia and GCC countries' is to be held in Riyadh from 14 November. The forum will discuss the present mode of electronic access to funds at remote locations and future strategies.
Inflation major risk to GCC currency bid
According to this recent article published on the Trade Arabia website, petty politics and diverging inflation rates are the main risks to the Gulf's attempts to set up a monetary union by 2010.
Summers: Central banks should make reserves work
Developing countries hold $2 trillion in excess reserves, but make almost no profit on the money, former U.S. Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers said on Thursday 14 September.
Lebanese governor speaks out on economic threats
The governor of Lebanon's central bank, Raid Salameh, has spoken about the strains on the country's economic recovery.
African central bank sells gold
A private Saudi jeweller has bought 36 tonnes of raw gold from an African central bank for 1.8 billion riyals, a company spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying on Monday 22 May, confirming a newspaper report.
Comments: Reserve diversification
Recent reports of the diversification official foreign exchange reserves in the Middle East have not gone unnoticed. Economists are starting to ask if the prospect of large-scale reserve diversification is back on the international agenda, following a…
ECB to advise GCC states
The European Central Bank will advise Gulf states on their plans for possible monetary union a spokesman for the ECB was quoted by AFX as saying on Tuesday 18 April.
GCC common monetary council expected
The GCC has said it is likely to set up a common monetary council in the Gulf by the end of this year.
IMF's Rato welcomes GCC monetary union progress
Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), gave a statement on Tuesday 18 October following a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the finance ministers and central bank governors of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation…
Tanigaki sees oil 'biggest' worry for world econ
Surging oil prices are the biggest worry for the world economy and the Group of 20 rich and developing countries is set to discuss the issue, Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said on Friday 14 October.
IMF's Rato announces travel plans
IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato announced his intention to travel to China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Belgium from 14-20 October.
High time for a single GCC currency
This article published on Thursday 29 September notes that there has been a fair amount of scepticism towards the proposed Gulf single currency, and says that for the currency union to be effective, there will need to be a single independent central bank…
ECB advice sought by Gulf Arab states
A senior official at the GCC said on Thursday 15 September that Gulf Arab states will seek help from the European Central Bank in establishing a monetary authority to oversee their planned single currency.
G20 will include IMF, World Bank reform talks
The agenda for October's meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs will include reform of the IMF and World Bank, deputy finance minister Li Yong told the official Xinhua news agency.
Dollar peg seen as key to Gulf 'euro'
Six leading Arab economies, including Saudi Arabia, may reconsider pegging their currencies to the dollar, under their plans for a "euro-style" Arab single currency in the region.
GCC central bankers to meet on monetary union
Central bankers in the six-member of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are set to meet in Saudi Arabia this Saturday, 19 March, on monetary union, the Arab News daily reported Wednesday 16 March.
SAMA chief sees greater role for euro
The head of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority said that although he didn't see any new shift in world currency reserves from dollars to euros, he expected the single currency to have a greater role in the future in terms of international reserves.
SAMA awards ATM contract
CyberGuard Corporation, a technology leader in network security, announced Thursday that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has selected CyberGuard's premium firewall/VPN appliances to provide the information security for a new ATM network.
Saudi Arabia scraps euro foreign reserves policy
Saudi Arabia has abandoned its policy of diversifying foreign reserves into euros, deeming the eurozone unfit to manage a major world reserve currency.