Azerbaijan, Baku, May 15 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
A bad example of using a single currency in the EU could slow down the creation of a single currency by member countries of the Cooperation Council of Arab Gulf States (GCC), the expert on finance of the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Jassem Al-Maarouf, believes.
The intention to move from cooperation to union in the first place suggests to switch to a single currency and the creation of a unified central bank in these countries, and this question is extremely difficult, Al-Maarouf says.
"The national currency of each country has a certain value. To create a single monetary system, the national currencies of the countries, whose cost is lower than the value of the dollar will be revalued, that is artificially increased. All of these processes, including the creation of a single central bank, will take a long time," the expert told Trend on Tuesday.
Al-Maarouf believes that the EU experience in the use of the single currency has led to crises, to which the Gulf countries must pay attention, which wish to create a union after the example of the European Union. This fact, in his opinion, is proved by the fact that countries like the UAE and Oman, have refused to participate in this project.
The expert also said that in case of creation and use of a single currency and central bank, some members of the GCC countries with stronger economies will be forced to solve the financial problems of the GCC member countries with less developed economies.
This project, first of all, will be used by Bahrain, which has a small stock of natural resources and its economy is supported by tax havens. However, after the political events in Bahrain, some large foreign companies reduce their activities in a country that is a serious threat to the economy of Manama, Al-Maarouf said.
On the other hand, the expert noted that if the process of creating a single currency is solved successfully, the Gulf region will create the world's largest economy, which will become an important tool for investing.
Earlier Riyadh hosted a meeting of foreign ministers of economy of Arab Gulf countries in the transformation of the Cooperation Council of Arab Gulf States (GCC) in the Union.
The meeting participants discussed the details of the transition of the GCC member states to a unified Gulf currency, which will allow to develop the economy of these countries. Following the meeting it was proposed to create a commission to study the issue of creating a single currency, which will consist of two people from four countries.
Previously it was assumed that the question of transition to a single currency will be resolved before the end of 2010, however, then the project was postponed several times.
In December 2009 the GCC monetary union began to work, one of whose objectives is to introduce a single currency in the future. By some estimates, this event may be postponed until at least 2015.