The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee held a meeting at the ministerial level in Jeddah today. The Saudi delegation was led by Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) Hamad Al-Sayyari, who co-chaired the session.

In remarks to the press after the meeting, Al-Sayyari said that participants discussed disengaging the Saudi riyal from the US dollar. They unanimously agreed that there is no need to change the riyal’s US dollar peg or the current exchange policy at the present time.

The SAMA governor also said that the meeting highlighted the importance of a monetary union, and that the region’s economic conditions will be assessed to set a new date for such a union. A GCC customs union was also discussed.

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