Following US Fed’s lead, Gulf central banks hold interest rates steady

A number of Gulf central banks decided today to keep their interest rates unchanged, following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep them unchanged.

The Qatar Central Bank announced that it would keep its interest rate unchanged, adding that the deposit rate would be 4.6%, the lending rate would be 5.1%, and the repurchase rate would be 4.85%.

The Central Bank of the UAE confirmed that it would maintain the base rate on its overnight deposit facility at 4.4%, and that the rate applicable to borrowing short-term liquidity from the central bank through all existing credit facilities would be maintained at 50 basis points above the base rate.

The bank stated that its decision followed the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would keep the interest rate on reserve balances unchanged during its meeting today.