Money and Metals

Bloomberg has this on currency reserves. "Syria, under fire from the U.S. for the alleged support of terrorism, plans to end its currency peg to the dollar by year-end to reflect closer trade ties with Europe, central bank Governor Adib Mayaleh said. The Central Bank of Syria has already converted half its foreign-exchange reserves to euros, Mayalmi said. Syria's reserves, including gold, totaled $4.1 billion at the end of 2005, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency."

"'We want to have a currency peg that will reflect our external trade,' Mayaleh said yesterday. The European Union is Syria's largest trading partner, taking half of its exports, he said."

"The country may instead link the Syrian pound to a weighted group of currencies including the euro or loans from the International Monetary Fund that are known as Special Drawing Rights, Mayaleh said. SDRs comprise the euro, dollar, yen and British pound."

"Most Middle East countries, including the six oil-producing Persian Gulf monarchies and Jordan, peg their currencies to the dollar. Egypt and Iraq manage floated currencies. The Syrian pound is pegged at 52.2 versus the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

"Central bankers from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Sweden and Finland have this year indicated they aim to diversify their reserves away from the dollar."