Worsening Exchange rate for Sterling

(based on the exchange rate) the poorer they will be. But I tried British Isles, can't afford to live there either. Petrol alone was a killer.

brits ... can't leave without the booze eh? :-)

They would have to close the booze store

wrong with brits? hmph?

If it keeps going this way, maybe all the Brits will go home.

We are all suffering. It will help if you try and have as many expenses in $/QAR eg take out a QAR loan to buy your car, Epect the $ to remain weak, possible decrease in sterling, but probably only when interest rates start to fall.

Richard is right. US dollar is still alive only because oil prices are fixed in US dollars. But this is something that will change and change very soon.

Hugo Chavez, a person who is responsible for recovering OPEC from ashes is not the biggest US fan. Russian rouble became officially convertible from June 2006 and Russia (the biggest oil producer outside of OPEC) is preparing to launch an oil exchange in February, trading in roubles.

I am not suggesting that euro or rouble will replace US dollar, but these are things that are undermining what is left from US dollar days as an international reserve currency.

Dollar is not backed by anything, but good faith, as all currencies, and what happens when international community loses faith in certain countries, was clearly demonstrated

by the Asian crisis in 1998, and crisis in Argentina (whose currency was pegged to US dollar) in 2002.

So, don't say you weren't warned.

That's what I thought for a while.

You're right...

I think soon, within the next five or ten years we will be talking of Petroeuros. Look at Iran and other countries around the region.

theres legal website where you can buy it, goldbullion or something like that. You purchase the gold over the net and hey presto its yours its stored in a vault and comes reccomended by financial awareness watchdogs - im thinking about doing when the price drops again

All paper currencies eventually become worthless. This is because they are not backed by anything. Until 1971, the dollar was backed by gold. This meant that you could have exchanged your dollars at the Federal Reserve for gold. You can no longer do this.

The US is saddled by enormous debts that it cannot repay and maintain the current value of the dollar. In order to repay thses debts, the Federal Reserve has to print more money. This further devalues the dollar through inflation. Gold on the other hand, looks like a much better bet. There is only a limited amount of the stuff available, it doesn't erode and probably every ounce of the stuff ever mined is still in existance. So "Charmed", I think you are right.

we get paid in USD which drives me crazy, when converting into pounds we are losing money its getting really annoying. the usd isnt worth that much these days were saving money at the moment and debating how to save the money. if we save in dollars and the dollar keeps weaking we lose money - thinking about converting it into euros at the moment, or even in the stock market. Gold would be the best bet if it wasnt so high to buy at the moment a safe way to save money - and i dont mean go down the souqks and buy gold!

In 1982 the exchange rate hit QR7=£1

In 1983 the exchange rate hit QR3.8=£1

In 1985 the exchange rate hit QR8=1£

I understand that at some point pre 1982 it had been as high as

QR11=£1

Roll the dice

US Dollar seems to weaken not only against Pounds but also against most of Asian currencies.

The problem is Qatar Riyal is pegged at 3.65 for every USD, when its true value under current market condition should be around 3.5 for every USD. If USD continues to weaken and QAR/ USD continues to be pegged at 3.65, it is doing no good to Qatar economy in the long run, especially so imports into Qatar is becoming more expensive. But I suspect the government will not lift the pegging as Qatar revenue is mainly derived from Oil & Gas and they're all received in USD terms.

The disadvantage will be on us the Expats as we have to buy 1 USD at 3.65 QAR whenever we TT our $$$ when the actual cost to buy USD should actually be less than that.

Whether or not to hold your QAR and transfer it later, it all depends on your personal view on where the market is heading. But I personally think the current market trend will continue until the US Presidential election is over.

From today's Khaleej Times:

The US dollar's long term outlook against

the euro and other major international currencies

is negative, however, a sudden

change from currency peg will be tough call

for the GCC central banks and governments,

said Dr Daniel Franklin, Executive

Editor of the Economist in Dubai yesterday. 3

at a rate of 3.65. This means that when the dollar weakens vesrus the pound you lose out. Also, UK interest rates have just risen. This makes the pound more attractive to foreign investors as they get a higher interest rate, this in turn makes the pound stronger.

Will it improve? This is anybody's guess. On economic terms, the dollar should be close to worthless as the US is the world's largest debtor nation and has huge current account and balance of trade deficits. The pound is probably higher than it should be (as UK is also a lrage debtor nation) but as long as the dollar remains weak and the interest rates are relatively high in the UK, you will lose out.

In 2010, the GCC is planning to move to a single currency linked to the Euro but there are doubts that this will happen on time, if at all.