UAE quit monetary union over central bank choice

Being passed over as host country for a Gulf-wide central bank was the main reason the country withdrew from a planned GCC monetary union, the Minister of Economy said yesterday, at the same time the Foreign Minister held open the possibility that the Emirates may rejoin at a later date.

Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain have said they continue to support the currency union project despite the withdrawal of the UAE, the second-largest economy in the region. The GCC decided to put the regional central bank in Riyadh, the capital of the largest economy in the region.

Sultan al Mansouri, the UAE’s Minister of Economy, did not rule out rejoining the monetary union project in the future, especially if the GCC were to revise its decision and agree to locate the central bank in Abu Dhabi.