Gulf Monetary Council

ased in Riyadh, KSA, the Gulf Monetary Council (GMCO) was founded in March 2010 as a regional economic organization. GMCO's membership is open to countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) only. The current membership of GMCO includes the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the State of Qatar, and the State of Kuwait. GMCO was founded in the wake of the ratification of the Monetary Union Agreement (MUA) and GMCO's Statute by the GCC Ministerial Council in June 2009. Subsequently, the Member States completed the ratification and deposit procedures for the monetary union agreement and statute document in February 2010. Article (20) stipulated that the Statute shall enter into force one month from the date of depositing the fourth instrument of ratification. Accordingly, GMCO Statute became effective on 27 March 2010, which was also considered the date of the GMCO foundation. GMCO's Statute has gained the status of international treaty, which carries with it the primary objectives and tasks to achieve monetary union among Member States and issuance of single currency. It also stipulated that GMCO has legal personality, financial & administrative independence. Moreover, it entrusted GMCO to commence its mandate, which involves a number of tasks covering economic research & statistics, layout of the legal and institutional framework of the Central Bank, coordination of economic policies between the Member States, and other tasks set forth in its Statute. The organizational structure of GMCO consists of a Board of Directors and an Executive Body, based in Riyadh. The Board of Directors enjoys full powers to achieve GMCO objectives, including the issuance of required rules and regulations to implement the Council's objectives and tasks.