UAE banks have drawn 15 percent of emergency funds

The United Arab Emirates central bank governor said on Monday that banks in the Gulf state had drawn about 15 percent of the 50 billion dirham ($13.61 billion) it set up last month to boost liquidity. "Banks are using only 15 percent of the central bank's facility now," Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi told a conference in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
The UAE central bank last month said it would give banks access to short-term funds at a premium to market rates to ease tensions in money markets as it sought to stave off the effects of the global credit crunch. "The immediate reason for the liquidity outflow from the UAE was the sudden exit of hot money that wanted to take advantage of the dirham-dollar (depegging debate)," he said.