Some noted that stock markets were perhaps maintaining the strongest link with oil prices.
Henry Azzam, chairman of the Dubai International Financial Exchange put the correlation with Saudi Arabia as high as 90 percent.
"It (oil) affects the morale and confidence. If people are watching it, they believe it's an important area," Azzam said.
DIFC governor Omar bin Sulaiman who leads the financial services strategy of the Gulf Arab emirate said there were differing levels of linkage with oil in Gulf economies.
"These countries are really investing in different industries, including oil and the value chain of that, upstream, downstream," he said.
"The multiplex of their investment and wealth is coming. Yes, it's been generated from oil originally, but its moving to different areas that are not heavily dependent on oil," he added.
Sulaiman also said wealth within the private sector was not linked directly to oil, adding that investors in enterprises within the region could realistically move their operations anywhere in the world.
"That's not linked to oil, that is linked to the global economy and what we're doing in the region and how we are integrating."
As part of the push towards integration with the wider economy, Sulaiman told Reuters on Tuesday that Dubai wants to create at least two of the world's top 10 financial services institutions by 2015.
* * * * * * * * * *
MORE GCC NATIONS TO ESCHEW DOLLAR: EXPERT
Reuters
March 26, 2007
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=140176
DUBAI -- More Gulf economies will move away from a dollar currency peg and shift foreign exchange reserves away from dollar to other currencies, including the Chinese yuan, the chief executive of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said yesterday.
DIFC CEO Nasser al-Shaali noted that the UAE central bank had already started buying euros -- part of its strategy to move some 10% of its reserves into the single European currency before the end of the year.
“We’ve seen for example in the case of the UAE central bank a movement into the euro,” al-Shaali told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit. “In the future most likely, we predict some of the economies in the region will adopt the Chinese yuan currency as well,” he said, adding that he was not aware of that happening at the moment.
Henry Azzam, chairman of the Dubai International Financial Exchange put the correlation with Saudi Arabia as high as 90 percent.
"It (oil) affects the morale and confidence. If people are watching it, they believe it's an important area," Azzam said.
DIFC governor Omar bin Sulaiman who leads the financial services strategy of the Gulf Arab emirate said there were differing levels of linkage with oil in Gulf economies.
"The multiplex of their investment and wealth is coming. Yes, it's been generated from oil originally, but its moving to different areas that are not heavily dependent on oil," he added.
Sulaiman also said wealth within the private sector was not linked directly to oil, adding that investors in enterprises within the region could realistically move their operations anywhere in the world.
"That's not linked to oil, that is linked to the global economy and what we're doing in the region and how we are integrating."
As part of the push towards integration with the wider economy, Sulaiman told Reuters on Tuesday that Dubai wants to create at least two of the world's top 10 financial services institutions by 2015.
* * * * * * * * * *
MORE GCC NATIONS TO ESCHEW DOLLAR: EXPERT
Reuters
March 26, 2007
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=140176
DUBAI -- More Gulf economies will move away from a dollar currency peg and shift foreign exchange reserves away from dollar to other currencies, including the Chinese yuan, the chief executive of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said yesterday.
DIFC CEO Nasser al-Shaali noted that the UAE central bank had already started buying euros -- part of its strategy to move some 10% of its reserves into the single European currency before the end of the year.
“We’ve seen for example in the case of the UAE central bank a movement into the euro,” al-Shaali told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit. “In the future most likely, we predict some of the economies in the region will adopt the Chinese yuan currency as well,” he said, adding that he was not aware of that happening at the moment.
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