Today, Wednesday, the Saudi Central Bank decided to raise the rate of the “repo” repurchase agreement by 25 basis points, to 5.25%.
The Central Bank also decided in a statement, seen by Al Arabiya.net, to raise the rate of the reverse repurchase agreement “reverse repo” by 25 basis points to 4.75%.
The bank stated that this decision comes in line with the objectives of the central bank in maintaining monetary stability and support financial stability.
And “repo” is a term that means re-purchase option between the central bank and banks, and more accurately it is a form of short-term borrowing. Depositing its funds with the Central Bank.
The US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee decided to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range between 4.50% and 4.75%, in line with market expectations.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell welcomed the recent decline in inflation data but said it was not enough to bring the consumer price rate back to its 2% target.
“We’re going to need significantly more evidence” that inflation is ebbing to be confident that it’s moving back toward the 2% target, Powell said at a news conference following the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
The Fed raised the interest rate 7 times in 2022, in meetings during the months of March, May, June, July, September, November and December.
The Fed scaled back the pace of rate hikes from 50 points last December, and 75 points in November, indicating the success of the Fed’s aggressive campaign to slow inflation.
Before the monetary tightening campaign, the interest rate in March 2022 was in the range of 0.25% to 0.50%.
