Dubai, UAE–– The central banks of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar increased their interest rates following the US Federal Reserve Board’s announcement today to raise the Interest on Reserve Balances (IORB) by 50 basis points.
The Saudi Central Bank, known as Sama, the Central Bank of Bahrain and Qatar Central Bank upped their interest rates by 50 basis points.
The Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) had decided to raise the discount rate by 0.50 percent from 3 to 3.50 percent effective 7 Dec. 2022.
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) earlier today raised the Base Rate applicable to the Overnight Deposit Facility (ODF) by 50 basis points – from 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent, effective from Thursday, 15 December 2022.
Experts have said GCC central banks need to raise interest rates to combat inflation. L’AZURDE Chief Executive Officer Selim Chidiac told TRENDS earlier this year that since the costs are pegged to the dollar in this part of the world, the central banks will have to raise interest rates in line with what is happening in the United States.