Algosaibi a test for Gulf unity - UAE

The way Gulf states manage the fallout from the Algosaibi group, which owes 34.6 billion Saudi riyals (Dh33.71 billion) to banks, is a test for the cooperation needed to build a unified currency, the UAE Central Bank governor said.

"If we have a common market, we should know how to deal with such cases," Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi said in an interview in Basel, Switzerland, on Sunday. "We should meet as regulators and we should discuss the issue and discuss a solution. All these things have not happened."

The UAE on May 20 became the second country in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council to pull out of a planned monetary union, after Oman withdrew two years ago. The exit of the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, was deemed a major blow to the project and came after Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, was chosen as the spot for a future Gulf central bank.