Gulf Central Banks Follow Fed Move With Half-Point Rate Cuts - Bloomberg

Gulf Central Banks Follow Fed Move With Half-Point Rate Cuts - Bloomberg:

Policy makers in the Gulf followed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency move on Tuesday, lowering interest rates in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Central banks in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain matched the Fed’s half-percentage point cut, hours after Chairman Jerome Powell said the fallout from the virus had increased risks to the U.S. economic outlook.

Gulf central banks largely move in lockstep with the U.S. to protect their currencies’ pegs to the dollar.

• The U.A.E.’s central bank said it’s reducing the repo rate and its certificates of deposit rate by 50 basis points 
• The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority cut the repo rate to 1.75% from 2.25% and the reverse repo rate to 1.25% from 1.75% 
• Bahrain’s central bank lowered its key rate to 1.75% from 2.25%