The Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has said that there are no signs in the Kingdom of a move to “diversify assets away from the US dollar” and that he expects Saudi bank lending rates to continue rise. SAMA head Muhammad Al-Jasser, speaking at the first Kuwait Financial Forum Sunday, added that the non-petroleum sector in the Kingdom would grow by more than four percent, maintaining the rate of growth recorded in 2008. On the global financial situation, Al-Jasser said it was still too early for governments to withdraw stimulus programs. He described the Gulf financial sector as the main victim of the crisis, blaming “excessive lending, weak supervision and the role of the fiscal and monetary policies that encouraged borrowing” for impacting banks and investment companies. He remained hopeful that the UAE and Oman would join Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in the Gulf monetary pact, with the six GCC members “continuing discussions” on all aspects of Gulf economic integration. The central issue, according to Al-Jasser, was that the Gulf monetary council - the regional central bank's precursor - be up and running in 2010. The forum heard speakers urge Gulf states to boost spending in order to speed up recovery from the economic crisis.
