Saudi Arabia's central bank governor said Thursday that he was happy with current interest rate levels in the Opec member country. Asked whether he was happy with current interest rates, Muhammad Al-Jasser told Reuters: “Yes, we are happy about it.” The Saudi central bank has been keeping its repo rate at two per cent since January 2009 and the reverse repo rate at 0.25 per cent since June 2009. Saudi Arabia's currency is pegged to the US dollar, which limits the central bank's scope to combat inflation because it needs to keep interest rates closely aligned with US benchmarks to avoid excessive pressures on the riyal. Gulf states are determined to forge ahead with their plans for a single currency despite the global debt crisis, the top Saudi monetary official has said, but without giving a date for implementation. “I have heard doubts (expressed about the single currency) only in the media. It is untrue,” Al-Jasser told reporters following a meeting of Gulf central bank governors in Doha late Wednesday. “There has been no delay... From the beginning, I have said that there will be no exact date to launch the single currency,” said Jasser, who is also chairman of the Riyadh-based Gulf Monetary Council. “There are mechanisms that must be completed... Citizens and state agencies in our countries must be aware of the requirements before we launch the currency. We are forging ahead but no exact date must be determined,” he said. Jasser said the bank governors also discussed the impact of the global debt crisis on Gulf economies. “Undoubtedly, no one can ignore what is happening in Europe right now, especially if you are thinking of a monetary union... This is a key issue and we must not ignore these developments,” he said. Gulf states have made some progress in their bid to launch a single currency which was initially slated for 2010 but analysts say the oil-rich nations still have a long way to go. When the Eurozone debt crisis reared up last year, GCC officials said they needed a “pause” in their single currency plan to study the full impact of the debt crisis on their economies.
