KUWAIT, July 2: The Central Bank of Kuwait said it is hiking the key dinar discount rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.50 per cent effective Sunday, the eighth hike since last summer in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve.

The Bank raised its discount rate by 25 basis points so it becomes 5.50 pc instead of 5.25 pc, as of Sunday, July 3, 2005, Bank Governor Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah told state news agency KUNA in a statement.

The Kuwait dinar discount rate is the benchmark for local rates in the Gulf Arab state which controls nearly a tenth of global oil reserves.

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