Interest rates on interbank lending have fallen since the Central Bank created its dollar-dirham swap facility two weeks ago, in a sign that the local credit shortage is easing. In the past two weeks, the Central Bank has allowed banks to swap about US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) at a rate of Dh3.7 to the dollar through the facility.
The measure was designed to allow banks to temporarily exchange dirhams for dollars for a small fee and relieve a shortage of dirhams in the system. Banks can exchange dirhams for dollars with the Central Bank for periods ranging from one week to one year, the bank said.
"The dollar swap facility has been responsible for some additional liquidity in the markets recently, mainly for foreign banks, which have dollar balances to convert to dirhams," said John Tuke, the head of treasury and asset liability and management at Commercial Bank of Dubai. "This has helped the market overall."
Shorter-term, interbank rates have fallen more dramatically since the announcement of the facility, with the one-month Emirates interbank offered rate (Eibor) dropping 0.46 percentage points since the announcement of the facility to 3.93 per cent, and the 12-month Eibor falling 0.09 percentage points to 4.15 per cent. However, local interbank rates still stand at more than twice where they were in June, before the credit shortage began to affect the UAE.
The Central Bank asked banks to continue using the swap facility to further lower interbank rates, which rose sharply during the autumn as a result of the international financial crisis.
The "Central Bank would like to encourage banks to use the various liquidity-providing facilities offered by it, namely the dollar-dirham swap and the discount facility", it said in a statement. "The wider usage will further push [Eibor] rates down and help the UAE economy in performing to its potential."
Last month, the Central Bank governor, Sultan Nasser al Suwaidi, said that credit growth in the Emirates would slow to 10 per cent or less this year. In September, the Central Bank created a separate Dh50bn facility that allows banks to borrow against the reserves they are required to deposit at the Bank.
In October, the Ministry of Finance pledged to inject as much as Dh70bn in long-term deposits with banks. So far, however, only Dh50bn of that has been injected, and bankers say that the funds are still needed to help relieve the credit shortage. "The final tranche from the Ministry of Finance would be welcome now," Mr Tuke said.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani