Gulf central banks raise interest in line with US Fed's rate hike

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 in statements today.

The Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) had decided to raise the discount rate by 0.50% from 3.00% to 3.50% effective December 7, 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% to 4.4%, effective from Thursday, 15 December 2022.