KUWAIT, (Reuters) – Gulf central bank governors plan to discuss removing obstacles to planned monetary union at a meeting in Qatar next week, state-owned Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Wednesday, citing Kuwait’s central bank.

“The meeting will look into the matter of preparing for monetary union between states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and ways to speed up performance and remove obstacles,” KUNA reported, citing a central bank statement.

Central bank governors of the six Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, plan to meet in the Qatari capital, Doha, on April 6 and April 7 against a backdrop of soaring inflation and falling interest rates.

All the states except Kuwait peg their currencies to the dollar.

Ostensibly, the six states plan to create a single currency by Jan. 1, 2010.