UAE Central Bank ups overnight rates, hours after US Fed raised interest

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CBUAE says DONIA should also help improve monetary policy transmission in the UAE.
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  • Central banks in the GCC mimic the US Fed’s moves due to the peg of their currencies to the US dollar

  • CBUAE upped the base rate applicable on the overnight deposit facility (ODF) by 5 points to 15 bps

Hours after the US Federal Reserve Board raised the interest on excess reserves (IOER) by 5 basis points from 0.1 percent to 0.15 percent, the Central Bank of the UAE upped the base rate applicable on the overnight deposit facility (ODF) by 5 basis points (bps) to 15 bps, effective from Thursday, reported Zawya.

The base rate, which is pinned to the US Federal Reserve’s IOER, signals the general stance of the CBUAE’s monetary policy. “It also provides an effective interest rate floor for overnight money market rates,” the bank said in a statement.

Central banks in the GCC mimic the US Fed’s moves due to the peg of their currencies to the US dollar. Kuwait is the only Gulf country to link its dinar to a basket of currencies.

The UAE regulator also decided to maintain the rate applicable to borrowing short-term liquidity from the Central Bank through all standing credit facilities at 50 basis points above the base rate.

Federal Reserve officials Wednesday held interest rates near zero but signaled two possible rate hikes by the end of 2023 as the US economy begins to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

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