The Federal Reserve announced a 0.75% interest rate hike. Since March, the bureau has raised interest rates five times by 3%.
The HKMA also raised the discount window rate by 0.75% this morning.
Yu Weiwen, president of the bureau, said that the Fed’s rate hike this time is in line with market expectations. The dot plot shows that the Fed will actively raise interest rates to suppress inflation, while other major central banks have also raised interest rates. The global macroeconomic environment has become complicated, and external winds are high. It is urgent, but the financial system of Hong Kong remains stable and the linked exchange system is effective.
He expects that with the interest rate hike in the United States, the Hong Kong-US interest rate gap will widen, especially short-term interest rates, which will trigger market participants to carry out carry trades, and the Hong Kong dollar will have the opportunity to trigger the weak-side guarantee of 7.85 again.
Yu Weiwen reminded that the market should be prepared for the continuous rise of Hong Kong dollar interest rates. In fact, Hong Kong interest rates have gradually risen, approaching US interest rates. Many local banks have raised the upper limit of mortgage interest rates. With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates many times, Hong Kong banks are likely to increase Deposit and loan interest rates, including Prime Rate (P).
Yu Weiwen called on the public to carefully assess and manage risks, including interest rate risk, when buying properties, taking out mortgages and making other loans.