Kuwait's central bank allowed the dinar to appreciate against the dollar on Sunday for the first time in almost two weeks after the greenback fell back from a seven-week high against a basket of major currencies. The dinar will trade around a mid point of 0.28180 per dollar, compared with 0.28215 per dollar, the central bank said, an appreciation of 0.12 percent.
The currency of the Middle East's fourth-largest oil exporter has now risen 2.60 percent since May 19, a day before the central bank dropped its peg to the weakening dollar and adopted a basket of currencies. Kuwait has declined to give the composition of the basket.
The dollar fell broadly on Friday after the US Federal Reserve slashed its discount rate on loans to banks and said US economic growth could slow in light of tightening credit markets.
The dollar index, which tracks the dollar's performance versus a basket of currencies, was down 0.44 percent in late New York trade at 81.371, after reaching a seven-week high early Thursday of 82.132.
The central bank says the dollar's decline on global markets is driving up inflation and making some imports more expensive. The US currency hit a record low last month against the euro in which Kuwait pays for more than a third of its imports.
Central Bank Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah said on July 29 the basket gave the bank flexibility to track moves on global foreign exchange markets, state news agency KUNA reported.
Comments
Comments are closed.