Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has cut its base interest rate for the third time in three months, lowering the cost of funding to help
reboot businesses and ease the burden of mortgage borrowers.
The city’s base rate was reduced by a quarter of a percentage point to 4 per cent, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday. Hours earlier, the US Federal Reserve cut its target rate by the same margin to a range of 3.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent, following the final meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year.
The current base rate in Hong Kong is the lowest since October 2022. Together with a total of 50 basis points in cuts over the past two months, both Hong Kong and US central banks have lowered their key interest rates by 75 basis points, or three-quarters of a point.
“The interest rate cut would have a positive impact on the economy and the property market as it would cut down the cost of funding,” said HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man in a media briefing on Thursday.
While the market forecast that the Fed may have one more 25-basis-point rate cut next year, Yue said the outlook for US interest rates remained highly uncertain, depending on the inflation rate and employment situation.
“The public would need to be careful to assess the interest rate risk when they decide to borrow money for investment or buying properties,” Yue said.