The central banks of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar have decided to increase their key interest rates by 25 basis points after the US Federal Reserve raised benchmark overnight interest rate to 5 to 5.25% range, the tenth consecutive hike since March  2022.

 

The central banks of four GCC countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar - today (May 4) decided to increase their key interest rates by 25 basis points after the US Federal Reserve Board’s announcement to increase the Interest on Reserve Balances (IORB) by 25 basis points.

 

The decision sets the US Central Bank's benchmark overnight interest rate in the 5% to 5.25% range. This is the tenth consecutive increase by the Fed since March last year.

 

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) too decided to raise the Base Rate applicable to the Overnight Deposit Facility (ODF) by 25 basis points – from 4.90 percent to 5.15 percent, effective today.