GBJ

(foto Gerard Lenting 2007) " dit zit er even niet in."

Inflatie.

(dit stukje dient gelezen te worden met gedragen stem als die van G.B.J. Hilterman)

Op het ogenblik is het in Qatar even schrikken. Door de lage dollar en de stijgende prijzen is het salaris opeens een stuk minder waard. Mijn contract is in dollars en de ryaal is gelinkt aan de dollar.

twee stukjes uit de krant van vandaag:

DOHA • After the skyrocketing house rents, it is the spiralling prices of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and several other food items which are putting financial strains on limited-income people.
Expatriates living here singly or with families are not the only ones who are suffering. There are limited-income Qatari nationals as well who are struggling to help meet both ends.
A cross-section of people The Peninsula spoke to on the issue of price rise in general, expressed surprise over the sudden shortages of some vegetables, fruits and other food items and the price rise which follows.
There has been a sudden rise in the prices of bananas and oranges as well as several types of fish such as Sherry, King and Hamour.

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait dropped its dinar’s peg to the dollar yesterday, throwing into disarray plans to create by 2010 a single currency in the GCC region.Delays to a monetary union among the Gulf oil exporting states, including Qatar, were a principal reason for the switch that now links the Kuwaiti dinar to a basket of international currencies, the Kuwaiti government said.“(Monetary union) was delayed … and therefore we went back on this decision today,” Deputy Prime Minister Faisal al-Hajji said, referring to Kuwait’s decision to adopt the dollar peg in 2003 to prepare for the single currency.Kuwait, also switched the exchange rate mechanism to a basket of currencies, had been battling speculators for weeks to defend the peg.Another reason was the dollar’s slide against other currencies Kuwait said that forced it to break ranks with fellow Gulf states to contain inflation from the rising cost of some imports.The move stunned Gulf currency markets and volumes dried up. The impact would be clearer today when international markets open, said Steve Brice, chief Middle East economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai.Oman and Bahrain, the two smallest Gulf economies, and Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, said they planned to stand by their pegs. There was no comment from the central bank of the United Arab Emirates, whose currency could take centre stage today as prospects for a single currency evaporate.