Current and future monetary cooperation with a focus on the possible monetary union of Gulf Cooperation Council

Abstract

There is a lot of effort to create new monetary unions in the world. This paper focuses on the cooperation in the monetary field with a view to a possible monetary union of Gulf Cooperation Council. Some existing and proposed monetary unions are discussed in the paper. The focus is especially on the proposed monetary union among states of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In the context of the emerging monetary union, countries of GCC are facing many challenges. The paper presents attempts of GCC countries to cooperate in the monetary field, barriers, benefits of the single currency and a couple of criteria by which can be assessed, whether a monetary union is the right step for this area. Some criteria of the Optimum Currency Area theory are applied to these countries here as well.monetary union, Gulf Cooperation Council, Optimum Currency Area theory, single currency