Kuwait Times

Published Date: November 17, 2007

DUBAI: Qatar, which pegs its riyal to dollar, is concerned that the US currency's slide on global markets is eroding the country's purchasing power, the oil and gas exporter's deputy prime minister said.

Today we feel concerned because of the very large decline in the value of the dollar," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said in remarks aired by Al Arabiya television yesterday.

Qatar's "purchasing power has fallen considerably," said Attiyah, who is also the OPEC member's energy minister. Qatar's oil exports are priced in dollars.

Asked whether pricing oil in euros would solve the problem of dollar weakness, Attiyah said OPEC's share of global crude output was too small for it to make such a switch.

Fellow Gulf oil-exporter Kuwait dropped its peg to the tumbling dollar in May and the United Arab Emirates said this week it was considering tracking its dollar-pegged dirham against currency basket instead. - Reuters