The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) member countries are keen on maintaining stability of international oil markets in order to prevent sharp prices’ fluctuations, Kuwait’s top banker said Friday.
The GCC countries realized the regional and international economic challenges resulted from regional conflicts, thus took preventive measures to boosting and maintaining monetary and financial stability with the objective of absorbing shocks, Dr. Mohammad Al-Hashel, Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), said.
He was speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Committee of Governors of Monetary Agencies and Central Banks of the six GCC countries.
Al-Hashel said global economy was affected by geopolitical conflicts from political disputes in Hong Kong to Ebola in West African countries, the crisis in eastern Ukraine all the way to the political conflict in Yemen.
He noted that countries suffering from armed conflicts like Iraq, Syria and Yemen were risking further deterioration in their economic and financial conditions, which would send shockwaves to the region.
The political tension in Hong Kong was also affecting Asian financial markets, in addition to the consequences of the crisis in eastern Ukraine on the euro-zone, noted Al-Hashel.
All these crises can affect the GCC countries, he said.
The global political crises, he noted, forced the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lower its international economic growth projections to 3.3 percent this year and 3.8 percent in 2015.
The GCC countries, said Al-Hashel, should work on strengthening economic reforms, creating lucrative investment atmospheres, boosting competitiveness, diversifying economy, reducing dependence on oil revenues and bolstering human resources.
“The GCC is an integral part of the global economic system. It is influenced by changes around the world either directly or indirectly,” he said.
The Arab Gulf bloc, added the governor, was adopting “wise” economic policies aimed at achieving sustainable economic growth that would be stable at the financial and monetary levels.
Al-Hashel said the Gulf central banks have played a key role in strengthening economic and financial stability, and have been successful in dealing with economic crises around the world.
GCC Secretary General Dr. Abdullateef Al-Zayani said the central banks succeeding in implementing international supervision standards on banks, and exchange of credit information.
He said they were also working on best strategies to connect payment methods among the six GCC countries.
Source : KUNA Kuwait News agency
