Possible changes were mooted by Central Bank of the UAE governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi in mid-January. He has previously suggested that the peg could be altered to a basket of currencies. However, fellow central bank governors in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia have disagreed with his proposal.

'There is only a small

probability of a move away from the US dollar pegs in March,' says Steve Brice, regional head of research at Standard Chartered Bank. 'Any such decision would take time to implement. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia remains a big hurdle.'