IF2 - Gulf Currency Peg - Final
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Transcript of IF2 - Gulf Currency Peg - Final
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Group 14 Gulf States currency peg
INTERNATIONAL FINANCEASSIGNMENT II GULF STATES CURRENCY PEG
Nowhere are the exchange rate policy dilemmas associated with recent
declines in the value of the US dollar more acute than in the Gulf States, where
virtually all the oil rich states have been pegging their currencies to the US
dollar. This assignment will address the current exchange rate policy options
for the States, and discuss if the link to the US dollar should be modified or
abandoned as some influential commentators have recently argued.
Group14 - Minzhi Xu (080008866)Zhaobin Zhang (070051445)
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Bojan Luburi (080022420)Arman Nurekeyev (080022673)
Table of Content
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................
................................................ 2
1. THE ARGUMENTS FOR THE US DOLLAR PEG
................................................................ 3
2.
TACKLING THE ARGUMENTS................................................................................................. 5
3. EXCHANGE RATE OPTIONS
.................................................................................................... 9
4. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
............................................................................................. 11
REFERENCES.............................................................................
.............................................. 13
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INTRODUCTION
Focus of this assignment is the current exchange rate policy of the Gulf
States. Particularly, we will assess the main arguments for pegging the
Gulf States currencies to the US dollar and will try to tackle these by
explaining why they may no longer hold. In addition, several possible
options and suggestions will be considered.
Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s, most
major exchange rates have not been officially pegged, but have been
allowed to float more or less freely for the longest period in recent
economic history. Many smaller central banks have adopted, however,
policies of pegging their exchange rates to the major currencies.1
Currency peg is basically the policy of controlling the value of a certain
currency by linking it to another
currency. The U.S. dollar is used
as a peg for many currencies in
the world.
1 Sarno, L. and M. Taylor (2003), The Economics of Exchange Rates, pp. 177.
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The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is an economic alliance consisting of
six countries of the Arab Peninsula (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). The GCC have taken number of
steps in order to endorse further economic integration between the
members, with the aim of setting up a single regional currency. One of
the steps was pegging their currencies to the dollar.
THE ARGUMENTS FOR THE US DOLLAR PEG
In the further discussion, we tried to address quite a few strong
reasons for linking the Gulf States currencies to the US dollar.
First of all, we believe it is important to take into account Stockmans
(1983) study of thirty-eight countries over various periods of time
(including, for instance, the ones whose currencies remained pegged to
the dollar after 1973). This particular study concludes that real
exchange rates are considerably more unpredictable under floating
nominal rate regimes. Thus, countries with pegged exchange rates will
experience lower volatility in the real exchange rate than countries with
flexible exchange rates.2
Moreover, oil and gas exports are the major source of the vast wealth of
Gulf States economies. Given that international oil trade is mainly
dollar-denominated, the dollar peg has served the GCC countries well as
it has proven stable in spite of huge volatility in oil prices. The dollar peg
has facilitated elimination of exchange risks and helped soothe
2Sarno, L. and M. Taylor (2003), The Economics of Exchange Rates, pp. 131.
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fluctuations in financial wealth, which are largely dollar-denominated.
Since the share of non-oil exports of these countries in total is quite
small, external stability and the credibility of the monetary position
have been the main reasons for the GCC member states motivation for
maintaining the Dollar peg.
Basically, this linking to the greenback was to provide an anchor for the
regions economies, many of which are small, open and financially
adolescent. In fact, the Gulf States import Americas monetary policy.
By 2006, the dollar peg, which has been applied for over two decades in
this region, has functioned well enough. According to director of the
Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, with this anchor,
steady economic environment and low inflation have been the standard.
3
In addition, the regions monetary officials have some further reasons to
stand by the dollar peg. Any upward revaluation of their currencies
would cut the local currency value of their foreign assets, which are
predominantly held in dollars. Approximately $600 billion has been
channelled from these countries into the global capital markets in the
period 2000-2006.
Ownership of Foreign Assets
Country (US$' Bn)
Bahrain
Kuwait
20
400
3The Economist, Nov 22nd 2007
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Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
10
70
450
600Source: IIF
Additionally, this would probably pace up the GCCs forecasted medium-
term plunge into current account deficit, as the local currency value of
oil exports falls and import volumes rise.
Furthermore, if these countries alter the existing dollar peg, this might
also disturb GCCs plans to trim down their reliance on oil export by
diversifying their economies. This is because their locally produced non-
oil goods would become less competitive in abroad markets while
suffering at home from somewhat cheaper imports. And a more
expensive currency combined with the introduction of exchange rate
uncertainty could diminish enthusiasm for foreign direct investment in
the region.
To summarise, GCC states have been bringing up concerns whenever
the dollar depreciate and the purchasing power of oil, whose price is
denominated in dollars, plunges. Nevertheless, the organisation appears
to have come up with conclusion that riding the cycles is preferable to
trying to design and enforce, for instance, a price based on multiple
currencies.4
4Financial Times, 22 Jan 2009
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TACKLING THE ARGUMENTS
In spite of all the mentioned supporting arguments, there are numerous
reasons that undermine the current dollar peg. As a close ally of the US,
Saudi Arabia has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now
destabilising its own economy.
To be precise, the main problem is that a fixed currency makes it very
difficult for these countries, which are all oil exporters, to adjust to
dramatic fluctuations in the price of oil. Adding to that, monetary policy
in the worlds leading oil-importer (US), which GCCs countries import in
effect, is not at all times right for them.
Spectacular boost in oil prices during the period of several years until
the summer 2008 (see the graph below5) has provided the Gulf
countries with a vast wealth. As a consequence, their real exchange
rates were supposed to rise. Basically, their currencies should
strengthen; however the peg prevents nominal appreciation.
5 Source: www.thisismoney.co.uk
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On top of that, seeing that the dollar deteriorated a lot against the euro,
the cost of imports from the EU and other regions swelled substantially.
Inflation in the region rose to 4.5% in 2006, from an average 0.1% in the
period 1998-2002, according to IMF data. In the UAE prices soared
10.1% in 2006; and in Qatar, 11.8%6. Inflation in the GCC economies
kept on climbing, with each of the six members reaching record double
digit figures. Qatar is one of the countries to have been most affected
by the increase.
The prevailing opinion is that the intensifying inflation in Qatar and
United Arab Emirates has been caused by rising import costs, which are
mainly Euro denominated. Moreover, global trade channels are more
6Bency, B. (2007), Choice of Exchange Rate Mechanism for the GCC Single Currency
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and more shifting towards Europe and Asia, leaving the US with a lesser
share of the total world trade flows. As it is presented by the table
below, for the GCC as a whole, the European Union is the most
important supplier of imports with a share of more than 37% of total
imports. This number is predicted to grow even more in the future. We
strongly believe that this trend gives further support to expectations
that pegging the Gulf currencies to a pure Dollar peg could lead to the
GCC facing even higher import bills and inflation.
Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman QatarSaudiArabia
UAETotalGCC
Sources of Imports(as % of total imports)
EuropeanUnion
22 32 22 51 37 38 37
United States 5 15 9 10 13 15 13
Japan 7 8 17 11 8 8 8
Source: IFS DOTS
Aside from the above piece of evidence that the EU provides a major
chunk of the imports for the Gulf States, the Euro has matured since its
introduction in 1999 enough to become a severe challenger to the
superiority of the Dollar as an international reserve currency. The
liquidity and size of Euro financial markets are rapidly approaching
those of Dollar market. The major consequence is deterioration of
historical advantages of the US Dollar as a reserve currency.
It is vital to mention that the decision to link the currencies to the US
dollar was taken at a time when the dollar was strong relative to all
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major currencies. However, as it is shown by the below graph, the dollar
has lost over 50% of its value against the Euro since 2002:
Source: DataStream
Previous discussion could be summarised in the following quotation:
Although the GCC states could benefit in the short-term by
maintaining their current monetary policies, the dollar cannot
guarantee sole dominance in the marketplace during the next
three to five years In 15 years time, Asia would account for
one-third of global trade and the US one seventh, thus leading to
huge implication for the future currency moves. In the global
perspective, the new trade corridors and new investment flows
would mean that the dollar could not guarantee its sole
dominance in future.7
7http://www.gulftimes.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=150715&version=1&
template_id=57&parent_id=56
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- Standard Chartered Bank chief economist Dr Gerard Lyons
Except for the mentioned reasons to move away from a dollar peg,
there is also the pressure on the Gulf States to increase their non-oil
production and exports in order for their economies to become more
diversified. Some of these countries, Bahrain and Oman in particular,
expect exhaustion of their oil reserves in the near future. Therefore,
they need to implement strategies which will support non-oil sector
growth.
Finally, for years, many emerging countries have pegged their
currencies to the dollar to shield economies that were relatively small,
undiversified and reliant on the United States. However, they are now
the engine of the global economy as the developed nations struggle
with the shattering effects of the credit crisis. Moreover, according to
some financial experts, emerging economies would probably benefit
from having independent monetary policies and flexible exchange rates,
as that would provide them with more space to counter economic and
financial shocks.
EXCHANGE RATE OPTIONS
The current situation in the Gulf with weakening currencies due to rising
inflation and severely limited monetary policy due to the dollar pegs in
concert with interest rates following the decisions made by the Federal
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Reserve is compelling local governments to act towards tighter
monetary conditions. The most widely discussed solutions are to
revalue, to de-peg and shift to a currency basket, or to create a new
single currency.
Repegging the domestic currencies to the greenback at a higher rate
would soothe some of inflationary pressure of the Gulf States but this
would not solve the main imbalance problem between exporters of oil
and a dollar peg. In fact, revaluing a currency does not add any value in
terms of wealth, it destabilizes revenues over time.
De-pegging from dollar and switching to a multi currency basket is
another option being considered for a long time. If the basket included
the strongest currencies around, for example the euro and the yen
along with a dollar, which still represents the biggest economy and
would have a big weight in any basket, could provide significantly more
protection against the volatility in oil prices and might serve as a
cautious transitional strategy toward an even more flexible exchange
rate policy. But this would not be the perfect result since these big
currencies still belong to importers of oil, thus Gulf governments would
have to link their domestic currencies to possibly unsuitable monetary
terms; though the idea of including more than the mentioned three
currencies would help with this, however the selection must be made
very meticulously.
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In the longer term though, the Gulf States should abandon the currency
pegs. There are examples of big commodity exporting countries like
Norway, Iran, Venezuela and Nigeria which have shifted to a floating
exchange rate regime as they have diversified economies with sizeable
non-oil sectors and exports (IMF 2002). Moreover, in the recent past
some emerging economies have chosen managed floating approach
instead of using pegs. This means that the governments and central
banks were actually having inflation targets rather than aiming for an
exchange rate.
In the case the GCC countries finally decide to materialize their single
currency plans the new currency must certainly be floating, though not
during initial period because there is no history, experience or financial
maturity to pursue this important step right from the beginning. It is
obvious that cooperation of Gulf States through single currency will
facilitate development of free trade and reduce dependence of regions
economy on the greenback.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
In the mid to long run the outlook of a dollar is pessimistic. The recent
facts with the Federal Reserve printing and pumping the greenback into
the economy in order to fight the current crisis will certainly have its
side effects. Moreover, in the medium term this approach along with
many other decisions the US government made which were not
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adequate to the nature of the crisis in terms of its length and depth will
inevitably lead to dramatic macroeconomic consequences which might
in fact result in a huge dollar inflation leading to the collapse of dollars
reserve currency status.
The most likely and worst scenario in this case would be disappearance
of the current financial base (dollar and debt) all over the world and
fragmentation of interests of the global systems big players and blocks,
which will lead to quick disintegration of the current international
system and strategic dislocation of big global players.8
There are already talks of new regional currencies, Amero for North
America (USA, Canada and Mexico) and Russian Ruble for Russia and its
closest allies. In this connection, the new single currency plans of Gulf
States could actually be a result of the same considerations.
Now taking into consideration all of the above, we believe that in the
longer run the Gulf States should end their currencies peg to the dollar
and create a single currency with a peg to a multi currency basket. To
do so they should learn from an evident positive experience of the euro
zone. Also GCC countries must produce a well-weighted action plan
which would allow them to avoid inflationary pressure, as long as
develop a concept of a single central bank and define an optimal
timeframe for shifting to a single currency by coordinating and
harmonizing differences in the rules and regulations of financial
8Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, GEAB #32
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structures, all of which are matters of vital importance in the whole
process. Finally, as well as simultaneously pursuing economic
diversification through increasing competitiveness of non-oil exports in
the future the Gulf States should maybe consider selling their export
commodities for their new single currency?
REFERENCES
Sarno, L. and M. Taylor (2003), The Economics of Exchange
Rates
Kate Phylaktis (2009), International Finance Lecture Notes
Bency, B. (2007), Choice of Exchange Rate Mechanism for the
GCC Single Currency
Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin
www.thisismoney.co.uk
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http://www.gulftimes.com/site/topics/article.asp?
cu_no=2&item_no=150715&version=1&template_id=57&parent_i
d=56
www.crealis.es
The Economist, Nov 22nd 2007
Financial Times, 22 Jan 2009
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