Table of contents

Participants in the meeting ...... iii

Introduction ...... 1

Economics Economic aspects of regional currency areas and the use of foreign currencies John Hawkins and Paul Masson ...... 4

Europe Regional currency areas: a few lessons from the experiences of the Eurosystem and the CFA franc zone Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn ()...... 42 The currency board and monetary stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Kovačević ( of Bosnia and Herzegovina)...... 58 Shadowing the euro: Bulgaria’s five years on Kalin Hristov and Martin Zaimov (Bulgarian National Bank) ...... 61 Monetary policy and management of capital flows in a situation of high euroisation - the case of Croatia Boris Vujčić (Croatian National Bank) ...... 79 Malta’s exchange rate arrangements - a medium-term perspective David Pullicino and Alfred Demarco (Central Bank of Malta)...... 99

Middle East The Gulf Cooperation Council monetary union: a Bahraini perspective Khalid Al-Bassam (Bahrain Monetary Agency) ...... 105 Monetary policy in Qatar and Qatar’s attitude towards the proposed single currency for the Gulf Cooperation Council Fahad Faisal Al-Thani (Qatar Central Bank) ...... 108 A common currency area for the Gulf region Muhammad Al-Jasser and Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency) ...... 115 Concrete steps towards the establishment of a monetary union for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries Mohammed Ali Bin Zayed Al Falasi (Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates)...... 120

Africa ’s exchange rate policy Kealeboga Masalila and Oduetse Motshidisi (Bank of Botswana)...... 122 Regional currency areas and the use of foreign currencies: Lesotho’s experience Tabo Foulo (Central Bank of Lesotho) ...... 128 South Africa’s experience of regional currency areas and the use of foreign currencies Lambertus van Zyl (South African Reserve Bank) ...... 134 Regional currency areas and use of foreign currencies: the experience of West Africa Michael Ojo (West African Monetary Institute) ...... 140 Regional currency areas: lessons from the West African sub-region and Nigeria’s policy stance Ernest Ebi (Central Bank of Nigeria) ...... 145

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Other regions The ASEAN currency and exchange rate mechanism task force Ooi Sang Kuang and Sukhdave Singh (Central Bank of Malaysia)...... 151 The use of foreign currencies: the United States perspective David Howard (Federal Reserve Board of Governors)...... 152

Previous volumes in this series ...... 155

Notations used in this volume e estimated lhs, rhs left-hand scale, right-hand scale billion thousand million … not available . not applicable $ US dollar unless specified otherwise

Differences in totals are due to rounding

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Participants in the meeting

Bahrain Monetary Agency Khalid Abdulla Al-Bassam Deputy Governor Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Kovačević Vice Governor, Research Department Bank of Botswana Oduetse Andrew Motshidisi Deputy Governor Kealeboga S Masalila Principal Economist, Research Department Bulgarian National Bank Kalin Hristov Policy Adviser Bank of the States of Central Africa André Mfoula Edjomo Directeur des Relations Financières Extérieures Croatian National Bank Boris Vujčić Deputy Governor European Central Bank Christian Thimann Head of Division, International & European Relations Adalbert Winkler Economist Bank of France Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn Director General, Directorate General Economics and International Relations Bank of Ghana Lionel Van Lare Dosoo Deputy Governor West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) Michael Olufemi Ojo Director General Peter Johnson Obaseki Policy Adviser Central Bank of Lesotho Tabo Foulo Deputy Governor Central Bank of Malaysia Ooi Sang Kuang Deputy Governor Sukhdave Singh Senior Manager, Monetary and Financial Policy Department Central Bank of Malta David Pullicino Deputy Governor Qatar Central Bank Fahad Faisal Al-Thani Deputy Governor Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Muhammad Al-Jasser Vice Governor Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy Director General, Research and Statistics Department

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South African Reserve Bank Lambertus van Zyl Adviser to the Governor Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ali Bin Zayed Al Falasi Deputy Governor Board of Governors of the Federal David Howard Reserve System Deputy Director, Division of International Finance Brookings Institution Paul Robert Masson Senior Adviser, Visiting Fellow, Economic Studies BIS William R White (co-Chairman) Economic Adviser Head of the Monetary and Economic Department Mario Giovanoli (co-Chairman) General Counsel Gunter D Baer Secretary General Philip Turner Head of Secretariat Group James H Freis, Jr Senior Counsel John Hawkins Senior Economist

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