Kuwait’s central bank said on Wednesday it was raising its discount rate by 25bps to 3.0% in order to support its dinar currency, after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to hike rates by that margin. It was Kuwait’s first interest rate hike since March last year. Central bank governor Mohammad al-Hashel said in a statement that exchange rates featured in the board of directors’ decision to lift the discount rate this time. “The rise in U.S. interest rates highlighted the need to further enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of the national currency as a vessel for local savings,” he said. He added that the central bank also acted to improve the alignment between interest rates on public debt and rates on commercial loans. Meanwhile, UAE and Bahrain also followed with 25bps rate hikes with UAE raising the repo rate to 2.0% as well as rate of certificates of deposits while Bahrain’s interest rate on the one-week deposit facility rose to 2.0%, the overnight deposit rate climbed to 1.75%, the one-month deposit rate to 2.65%, and the lending rate to 3.75%. Qatar has thus far not raised rates while Saudi Arabia had already increased rates by 25bps last week.