Oman will not be able to join the Arab Gulf monetary union by the deadline of 2010, Saudi Arabia's local al-Jazirah newspaper reported on Sunday.

Member states of the regional alliance -- the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has originally committed to establishing a single currency by 2010.

"Oman will not join the single currency union because it won't be ready by that time (2010)," an official from a Gulf state old the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

The remarks came during the sidelines of the 27th GCC Summit which is currently underway in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

"In order to avoid delaying the whole process, Oman wants other GCC members to go ahead with the plan and it will join it later," he said, disclosing the proposal has got nods from other five states. But Oman's quitting has not been officially announced yet.

In the inauguration speech for the GCC summit on Saturday, Saudi King Abdullah admitted, "there are obstacles in the process of economic integration", despite all the achievements the GCC has made.

In last year's summit, the GCC decided to extend the transition period of the bloc's customs union from 2005 to the end of 2007, in a major setback for the integration efforts.

The alliance has committed to establishing a common market by 2007 and a single currency by 2010, but analysts are speculating the commitment to be altered in this year's summit.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), founded in 1981, is a regional political and economic alliance aimed at enhancing cooperation among its six member states, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

Source: Xinhua