SAUDI CENTRAL BANK LOWERS REVERSE REPO RATE TO 2.25 PERCENT FROM 3 PERCENT AFTER FED CUT

Saudi Arabia, which pegs its riyal to the dollar, lowered its reverse repurchase rate by 75 basis points on Wednesday after a U.S. cut, two bankers said. It left its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.5 percent.

 

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) cut the reverse repo to 2.25 percent from 3 percent, a banker in each of Riyadh and Dubai said, reading from a central bank notice.

 

The central bank of the world's largest oil exporter usually only communicates interest rate decisions to banks, sometimes confirming in a public statement at the end of the month.

 

The Fed cut its benchmark lending rate by 0.75 of a percentage point on Tuesday, its sixth cut since September, as part of an effort to ease a slowdown in an economy hit by a housing slump and credit crunch.