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Jeddah: Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister ruled out severing the riyal's peg to the dollar before Gulf Arab rulers meet for the 28th GCC summit in Qatar on Monday.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will attend the summit in Doha, the Royal Court announced. Leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE and Iran will also join the summit.
The two-day summit will discuss major economic and political issues, including the Middle East peace process and Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West.
GCC finance ministers on Sunday did not discuss dropping their pegs to the dollar at a meeting to set the agenda for the GCC summit.
“We will not drop it. That’s it,” said Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf.
Economists also said dropping the dollar peg would not be in the best interest of Arab states.
"The cost of dropping or revaluing would be far greater than the benefits at this stage," economist John Sfakianakis told Arab News.
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