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Press Release: IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Commends Gulf Cooperation Council Countries' Resilience in Face of Global Crisis
October 17, 2009
Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement today after a meeting with the finance ministers and central bank governors of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Muscat, Oman1:
“It has been a great pleasure to participate in this meeting and to exchange views on global and regional challenges. I would like to thank H.E Ahmed Bin Abdul Nabi Macki, Oman’s Minister of National Economy, for hosting this meeting in the Sultanate.
“Since the last GCC meeting, wide-ranging policy responses around the world stabilized financial markets and mitigated the slowdown in output. The latest economic news gives us reason for cautious optimism. The main short-term imperative is that policymakers, especially in advanced economies, maintain the policy stimulus until private sector demand has fully taken hold to ensure a robust and sustained recovery.
“The GCC countries have not been immune to the fallout from the crisis but have faced it from a position of strength. The authorities should be commended for cushioning the impact of the crisis through strong countercyclical fiscal policy, which helped sustain growth in their own economies and had positive spillovers for neighboring countries as well as contributing to global demand during the downturn.
“The crisis has revealed vulnerabilities in some GCC banking sectors which need to be addressed. Nevertheless, these vulnerabilities are of a non-systemic nature and the GCC countries have deployed the necessary resources to keep them contained.
“Looking forward, there is a need to continue to diversify the financial sector, and more broadly the economy. Doing so would reduce both volatility in economic activity and financing costs for private investment, which is key to providing jobs for a growing labor force.
“The GCC has made bold strides in economic integration. An important milestone was reached this year with the ratification of the Monetary Council charter. The IMF has been closely cooperating with the GCC countries and stands ready to support their efforts toward economic integration and monetary union.”
1 The GCC is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
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