Most Gulf central banks follow Fed lead and cut key interest rates
By Yomna Ehab and Ahmed Tolba
CAIRO/DUBAI, Nov 7 (Reuters) -Most central banks of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cut key interest rates on Thursday, following the Federal Reserve's decision to reduce U.S. rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points as policymakers took note of a job market that has "generally eased" while inflation continues to move towards its 2% target.
The Gulf's oil and gas exporters generally follow the Fed's lead on rate moves as most regional currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar; only the Kuwaiti dinar is pegged to a basket of currencies, which includes the dollar.
"Lower rates in the GCC could fuel growth in sectors sensitive to credit conditions, such as real estate and domestic spending, enhancing resilience in the broader economy," Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, said.
Saudi Arabia, the region's biggest economy, cut its repurchase agreement (Repo) rate and reverse repo rate by 25 bps each to 5.25% and 4.75% respectively and the United Arab Emirates also reduced its base rate on the overnight deposit facility by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.65%.
Most regional economies have been largely shielded from stubbornly high inflation elsewhere, and have implemented ambitious plans to diversify revenue sources and boost non-oil growth.
In Qatar, the central bank opted to cut its three main interest rates by a slightly deeper 30 bps, while Bahrain's central bank stuck with a 25 bps reduction in its overnight deposit rate.
Growth among the GCC's biggest economies is expected to accelerate next year amid higher oil output, according to a recent Reuters poll, while inflation is projected to remain subdued this year and next with median forecasts ranging from 0.8% to 3.0%.
Additional reporting and writing by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
