Saudi Arabia seen upholding dollar peg policy

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s new central bank governor is set to keep the oil exporter’s dollar-pegged monetary policy intact amid a harsh global economic crisis, analysts said on Sunday.

The world’s top oil exporter named Mohammad Al Jasser governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) on Saturday.


Hamad Saud Al Sayyari asked to step down after 26 years at the helm of the Gulf’s most influential central bank.

Jasser, who holds a PhD in economics and represented the kingdom at the International Monetary Fund, will likely uphold strategies such as a near 23-year policy of linking the riyal to the USdollar and investing in low-risk foreign assets.

“I don’t think you will see a sea change in current monetary policy,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB bank, HSBC’s Saudi affiliate.

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