FX: GCC sets 2013 date for single currency

Officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council have set 2013 as the new deadline for the region’s common currency, according to Standard Chartered, quoting local media reports. The initial deadline for the project was 2010 but progress has been slow and complex, with both Oman and the UAE pulling out of the union. Despite this, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have decided to go ahead. But Standard Chartered says that even if the union is effected, excluding the UAE means the region’s second-largest and most diversified economy will be outside it.