Gulf currency union faces more hurdles

Even bigger hurdles in the quest for a Gulf Arab single currency lie ahead after Tuesday's decision to base a planned regional central bank in Saudi Arabia cleared one obstacle to monetary union, analysts said.

To avoid new snags that may further delay the union, initially planned for 2010, Saudi Arabia may have to counter any perceptions it is overly dominant in the region by leaving the central bank's governor job to another bloc member.

'It's not going to be a smooth ride,' said John Sfakianakis, chief economist for HSBC ( HBC - news - people )'s Saudi affiliate.