KING APPOINTS NEW CENTRAL BANK VICE GOVERNOR

UNCLAS RIYADH 001150 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR NEA/ARP (HARRIS/BERNDT),EEB/IFD/OMA (JACOBY) ALSO FOR EEB/ESC/TFS(JALLORINA) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON PGOV SAMA SA SUBJECT: KING APPOINTS NEW CENTRAL BANK VICE GOVERNOR REF: RIYADH 319 ¶1. (U) King Abdullah appointed Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy Vice Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Union (SAMA),the country's central bank, on August 30. This is a cabinet-level position and the holder is afforded ministerial rank. Born in Al-Zulfi (290 kilometers north of Riyadh) in 1960, Hamidy is considered an old SAMA hand. He acquired a PhD in economics from the University of Oregon in 1991. Upon his return to Saudi Arabia, Hamidy worked as Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, King Saud University. Upon joining SAMA, Hamidy managed the Training Department and Research Center at SAMA's Banking Institute. He was appointed Director General of Economic Research and Statistics and later promoted to Deputy Governor for Technical Affairs in November ¶2004. The latter position has made Hamidy one of the USG's primary partners in the financial crackdown on terrorist activities. ¶2. (U) Hamidy sits on the boards of several government funds/agencies including the Saudi Industrial Development Fund; the Arab Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi; the Saudi Post Authority; the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA); the Cooperative Health Insurance Council; and the Saudi stock exchange (TADAWUL). COMMENT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Hamidy has been the de facto number two at SAMA since February when then-Vice Governor Dr. Muhammed Al-Jasser was promoted to governor, so this "promotion" is in many ways a preservation of the status quo. The new vice governor is a somewhat prickly interlocutor, particularly when it comes to the regulatory sovereignty of SAMA and Saudi Arabia. However, he has made himself available to us in the past when we need to meet, and often on short notice compared to some other Saudi officials, so we view this appointment as a net plus for the USG. We believe this appointment represents a vote of confidence from King Abdullah and indicates that current Saudi economic policies will continue. ERDMAN