Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi was recently quoted as saying that the Kingdom had no intention of pricing oil sales in euros instead of dollars. He went on to say that he had no intention of raising the matter at the forthcoming meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in February even if the euro continued its climb against the dollar.

I must admit I find myself utterly unable to understand such a statement since the secretary-general of the organization himself has said OPEC may consider the matter and may shift to the euro.

If Al-Naimi sees it in the Kingdom’s interest to continue pricing oil exports in dollars — using logic that I don’t understand — then as a Saudi citizen, I find myself being harmed by the rising value of the euro against our currency, the riyal.

I am sure this is the feeling of many other Saudis, especially the poor and those struggling on low incomes. It is worth noting that over a period of just three years, the riyal’s purchasing power against the euro has fallen 40 percent. Imagine the huge losses we incur as a result since 90 percent of our imports are from countries using the euro and the yen — which has also made gains over the dollar. This means the value of our imports has risen by the same percentage during that period while the income of Saudi citizens, most of whom belong to the low-income category, has remained unchanged.

In fact, everyone has been affected, including businessmen and particularly those who had earlier entered into long-term contracts for the importation of items such as medicines and medical equipment, electrical appliances and automobiles from European countries. If this continues, many businesses with these big contracts may become bankrupt, which would certainly have an adverse effect on the economy.

The government, too, is sure to be hard hit. Assuming that the Kingdom’s income from oil this year will be $85 billion based on expert estimates, the actual income will in effect not exceed $51 billion based on 2000 prices.

Al-Naimi, however, has a different view. It is the kind of view that I admit I find myself unable to grasp.