Abu Dhabi's annual inflation rate is currently below 4 per cent and the country has no plans to rejoin the Gulf monetary union project, the director general of the emirate's council for economic development said on Monday.

'We've seen the inflation rate really dip, we are talking about sub-4 per cent, give or take, in Abu Dhabi today,' Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, director general of the council for economic development, told an Abu Dhabi investment forum.

Gulf real GDP is expected to rise by a modest 0.7 per cent this year and a more robust 5.2 per cent next year, the International Monetary Fund said last week.

The UAE pulled out of plans for monetary union among Gulf states in May, in protest at a decision to base the joint central bank in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

In answer to a question on whether Abu Dhabi, one of seven members of the UAE, would consider rejoining the project, Al Muhairi said, 'Given the UAE federal decision not to join the customs union, that acts as an impediment to having a single unified currency, (so) it's probably a moot point.'

Only four of the GCC's six member states are pursuing monetary union. Oman opted out three years ago.

Ratification by the four remaining countries is needed for the project to go ahead, but so far only Saudi Arabia has done so. Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait have not yet ratified, leaving question marks over the future of the project.-Reuters