King Abdullah keeps faith in the dollar

Saudi Arabia has been pegged to the dollar since 1986. But the kingdom is coming under more and more pressure to de-peg in order to tackle domestic inflation.

There’s a little-known Jane Fonda film, made in 1981, called Rollover. It’s a rather far-fetched financial-romantic thriller, in which Saudi Arabian investors quietly try to pull their capital out of the falling dollar without instigating a global panic and financial meltdown. In the film’s conclusion, this attempt fails, an enormous run on the dollar ensues, and the world financial system collapses.