The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point yesterday, to their highest level in 22 years, attributing this to persistently high inflation.
And the main interest rate, after the 11th increase since the Fed began the cycle of tightening monetary policy to curb inflation in March 2022, reached the range of 5.25-5.5%, while the Federal Reserve statement accompanying the announcement left the door open for another increase.
“The Federal Open Market Committee will continue to evaluate additional information and its impact on monetary policy,” the statement said, using language that has not changed much from the one used in the June statement and leaves options open to the bank.
According to the latest expectations, the Federal Council is expected to decide a new increase in interest during the current year, despite the record of inflation in the United States, a steady decline in recent months, which encouraged consumers and American companies, but the Fed officials confirmed in their statement issued after yesterday’s meeting that inflation is still high and that The Board remains very alert to inflation risks.
And the central banks of Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain raised interest rates by 25 basis points, after the Fed raised.
The Central Bank of Saudi Arabia decided to raise the rate of the repo agreement by 25 basis points to 6.00%, and to raise the rate of the reverse repo agreement by 25 basis points to 5.50%.
This decision comes in line with the Central Bank’s objective to maintain monetary stability.