Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar remain committed to plans for a Gulf monetary union despite the withdrawal of Oman and the UAE. A joint monetary council has been established with the governor of SAMA as its chairman and this is likely to evolve into a central bank by the end of 2012. However, the countries still need to agree on various technical issues and meet the convergence criteria, and a single GCC currency is unlikely until later in the forecast period. The peg may therefore be adjusted in 2014-15 to prepare for a single currency. A single currency would probably also initially be pegged to the dollar, although a currency basket might be introduced later.