Currencies and oil, Countdown to lift-off

Gulf countries are rethinking their currency pact with the dollar

HARDLY a week goes by without a new reason to be gloomy about the dollar. The latest scare is that members of the oil-rich Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) might loosen their links to the greenback, depriving the foreign-exchange markets of a reliable buyer of the troubled currency.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), through its central bank governor, recently hinted that it would like to free itself from the dollar peg, but would prefer to do it in concert with the other GCC members

Now others might follow Kuwait’s lead. Someone close to the GCC says that some members are advocating a substantial revaluation