Hong Kong central bank raises interest rate after Fed hike

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday raised its base rate charged through the overnight discount window by 25 basis points to 5 percent, 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.

In announcing its latest policy decision, the U.S. central bank scaled back to a quarter-percentage-point rate increase after a year of larger hikes and Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested a “couple” more hikes coming.