Gulf ministers discuss global financial crisis

RIYADH: Gulf Arab finance ministers said today that strict monetary oversight in their nations has protected them from the global financial crisis and voiced confidence in their continued ability to stave off the meltdown that has hammered world markets and stoked recession fears.

The ministers, representing six oil-rich Arab nations moving toward setting up a single currency by 2010, met in the Saudi capital in a bid to take stock of the impact of a financial crisis.

The meeting came amid clear investor worries in their nations, despite repeated government assurances about abundant liquidity in the financial sector.

The hastily convened meeting, ostensibly, was also aimed at determining if other, more coordinated, measures must be taken to buffer their respective economies.

The statement issued by the ministers and the governors of their respective nations' central banks said Gulf banks enjoy a "high degree" of liquidity and that government agencies will continue to monitor developments in the financial crisis.

The ministers "underlined their confidence in the stability of the monetary system in their countries" and the strength of their economies, said the statement.

"It is expected that the economies of the GCC countries will continue to grow by good averages."

Following the meeting, Qatar's finance minister, Youssef Hussein Kamal, told reporters that Gulf countries have "proved to the world that our laws and strict oversight are what saved us from the crisis the world is in".

"This gives (the world) reassurance to come and invest in our countries," said Kamal.