HONG KONG (Reuters) -The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday raised its base rate charged through the overnight discount window by 75 basis points to 2.75%, hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered a rate hike of the same margin.
Hong Kong’s monetary policy moves in lock-step with the United States’ as the city’s currency is pegged to the greenback in a tight range of 7.75-7.85 per dollar.
The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark overnight interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. The move came on top of a 75 basis point hike last month and smaller moves in May and March, as the Fed stepped up efforts to cool inflation.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told a news conference following the rate announcement that he did not believe the U.S. economy is currently in a recession but that it is softening.
(Reporting by Donny Kwok and Alun John; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
