At the GCC Currency Forum 08 organised by ITP in association with Arabian Banking and Finance, INCIDE, the consulting firm that registered a world currency sign in 2002, presented its design for the new Gulf Currency.
A stylised G with a vertical line down the middle, consistent with other currency signs around the world, could help the adoption process towards 2010 claims Allard Marx, the Dutch M.D. of London-based INCIDE.
“An impressive line up of speakers at the Gulf currency conference raised expert debate about the economic and banking developments required to converge 4 to 6 currencies. Our focus was on the implementation and acceptance of such a major change and to show how the process could be helped by visualising an outcome ahead of time. We specialise in reducing the leap of the imagination,” says Marx.
As far as the name for the new currency is concerned Marx put forward two routes. The first is to come up with a totally new Arabic word. The second is to find an amalgam of the four existing names that will likely disappear – Dinar, Dirham, Rial and Riyal.
“Diyal and Diryal, for example, could be considered along with others in the naming project. Whatever the outcome, the new currency name must be easy to use and not have associations too closely tied to one of the countries,” Marx says.
The INCIDE presentation also covered ways of off-setting the sense of loss of national identity caused by erasing each country’s own currency. Specific communications actions aimed at winning hearts and minds of the populations of the states in question were outlined.
Whether the governments, central banks and finance ministries of the member states use INCIDE’s gift remains to be seen. In any event, the mere gesture itself has focused attention on the plan and fuelled the debate on the name to be adopted for the new currency.