Saturday, May 05, 2012
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--The Saudi central bank has decided to keep its key interest rates unchanged in May, as inflation pressures remain under control, people familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, or SAMA, held its overnight reverse repo rate at 0.25% this month, and the benchmark repurchase rate at 2%, the people said.
Saudi inflation was 5.4% in March, unchanged from February, according to recent data from the Central Department of Statistics and Information. Jadwa Investment expects inflation of 4.4% for the whole of 2012, curbed by a strong dollar and subdued inflationary pressures in Saudi Arabia's trading partners.
SAMA has repeatedly expressed concern about inflationary pressures, caused mainly by an increase in global food prices. But it has also said that the central bank saw no need to change its interest rate policy.
The central bank last cut its overnight reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 0.25% in June 2009 in an attempt to spur credit growth in the local economy.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires, +966-546-842-373; summer.said@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-05-12 1019GMT
