Currency union and exchange rate issues

This title brings together the perspectives of a group of experts who focus on these important issues, and explores the appropriateness of pegging to the dollar for both individual countries prior to monetary union and for the subsequent union itself.

This book - written by leading academics and practitioners in the field - brings together cutting edge research on exchange rate regime and monetary union issues. There is a particular focus on the implications for member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which is itself working towards forming a monetary union for the Gulf States. The relatively dramatic movements in the US dollar in the recent past, and also in the early 1990's, have called into question the practice of pegging to the US dollar for a group of countries that predominantly rely on hydrocarbons as their primary export. The book considers the key issues that must be addressed by the GCC in trying to form a monetary union for the Gulf countries and also the rigid pegging of member states' currencies to the US dollar. The proposed monetary union raises clear issues in terms of the appropriateness of such a regime for these countries and whether, for example, the necessary institutional mechanisms are in place ahead of the proposed union. -- Publisher description.