BIS Review 128/2010  3  Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques The endorsement of the Ninth Development plan coincided with the announcement by the Central Department of Statistics and Information of preliminary results of the population census. The population of the Kingdom amounted to 27.1 million, of whom about 18.7 million are Saudis, and 8.4 million are residents. The number of houses stood at 4.6 million. These results support your Royal instructions to exert every effort to achieve the objectives of the Ninth Development Plan in a timely manner, especially with regard to enhancing citizens’ welfare, providing housing, employment, education, health care services, and modern facilities needed, and working hard to fight poverty, paying special attention to balanced development in all regions of the Kingdom. At the regional level, the four member states of the GCC Monetary Union (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait) have ratified, at the beginning of this year, the convention of the Monetary Union. By your Royal encouragement and support and that of your brothers the leaders of the Council’s states, the Monetary Council began its work as the nucleus of the central bank to be established upon the completion of the main facilities and infrastructure of the Monetary Union. The central banks and monetary agencies, members of the Monetary Council, are doing their utmost to conduct the Council’s work in accordance with the guidance of the leaders of the Council’s States. In spite of these bright achievements, there are still many challenges posed to our development march.
“Special report on central banks and the world economy: only human”, The Economist, October 20th-26th 2007. 4  BIS Review 15/2008