Alexander's legacy in the United Arab Emirates

[Tsontos]

Alexander the Great

Abandoning the peg would risk driving prices higher for Americans, the biggest oil consumers. Oil rose 55 percent this year and was at $94.66 a barrel in New York today. It hit a record high of $98.62 on Nov. 7.

Reducing their dependence would also mark the increased wealth and power of oil producers. The GCC has never had an independent monetary policy. Before pegging currencies to the U.S., much of the region was under British influence and used the gulf rupee issued by the Reserve Bank of India and linked to the British pound. The U.A.E. dirham inherited its name from the Greek drachma, introduced in the Middle East in the third century B.C. by Alexander the Great.

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