Shura Council to grill officials on inflation

by Souhail Karam Sunday, 27 January 2008

The Saudi finance minister and central bank governor will appear before a council that advises the king to discuss the riyal's peg to the US dollar and a surge in inflation, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

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Inflation hit 6.5% at the end of 2007, its highest since 1991, partly due to a surge in global commodity prices and a weak dollar. The dollar peg also forces the central bank to track US monetary policy, fuelling inflation at a time when the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates.
The Shura Council, whose members are appointed by King Abdullah, will hold a meeting next month with finance minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Hamad Saud Al-Sayyari, the governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Okaz newspaper said.

The newspaper did not source the report and did not say how it got the information.

Shura Council members Ihsan Bu-Hulaiga and Mohammad Al-Zulfa could not be reached for comment. The Shura was holding a session on Sunday, their aides said.

"Assaf will meet on the 10th of next month with the speaker and members of the Shura council with... Sayyari's participation," Okaz said.

"The session will raise key financial and economic issues, mainly the debate over de-pegging the riyal currency from the US dollar and the rise in inflation rates," it said. (Reuters)



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