Oman said yesterday it is "firmly committed" to keeping the value of its rial unchanged even as some traders bet on a regional revaluation."The central bank remains firmly committed to maintaining the parity and peg of the Omani rial to the US dollar," Oman's central bank governor Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali said.

"For an open economy like Oman, the fixed peg to the US dollar works as the strongest source of stability, which is very essential for promoting trade and investment," said Zadjali, who is executive president of the Central Bank of Oman.

Like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Oman has held back from lowering interest rates to match the September 18 cut in the US, saying domestic economic considerations need to take precedence in deciding monetary policy.

The moratorium has fuelled speculation that some Gulf states, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will allow their currencies to appreciate to offset the declining value of the dollar against the world's major units.