UAE offers $13bn to banks to alleviate liquidity crisis

22 September 2008
The Central Bank of the UAE said on 22 September that it would pump AED50bn ($13.6bn) into the local banking sector to help alleviate a liquidity crisis that has driven interbank rates up by 170 basis point, to 3.61 per cent.

Following talks on the issue of liquidity with banks on 18 September, the central bank says it is setting up a facility totalling AED50bn for the country’s banks to draw on as necessary.

It says it expects these funds “would meet banks’ needs for supporting continued financing of economic growth” and that additional resources were available if further support was needed.

In June the Emirates interbank offered rate was just 1.87 per cent, before the retreat of some foreign investors who had been hoping for a currency revaluation, and further failures of US financial institutions led to a sharp decrease in local currency liquidity.

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