Discussion in Oman to NOT Peg Riyal to Devaluing US Dollar

Columnists in Oman kicked off open discussion about vulnerability of dependence on US Dollar in Times of Oman over the weekend.

Should Sultanate of Oman drop riyal peg to US dollar?

United States floundering finances and internal political bickering is forcing the once mighty nation to lose its grip on the treasury.

Many critics say that sticking to the dollar peg is as good as devaluing the rial since the US currency is losing its strength consistently against major currencies of the world. Oman and its neighbours are big buyers of the dollar dominated assets and the need to diversify its portfolio away from the US currency is very pressing.

The US government's shut down this month should be another wake up call for Oman to consider ending its reliance of the dollar. How could Oman continue to keep its faith in the dollar when the US government has no control over its own currency?

Arguments made in above quotes about serious dangers of sticking with status quo are so eloquent, that no further commentary really needs to be added to strengthen them. Simply by providing a wrapper functionality in this short blogpost is sufficient to drive home the point.