The UAE Central Bank slashed its deposits with other banks by nearly Dh16 billion in June to invest in more profitable securities as interest rates have remained at one of the lowest levels, its figures showed on Saturday.
From around Dh64.9bn at the end of May, deposits by the Central Bank, mostly in banks abroad, dipped to Dh49.07bn at the end of June, their lowest level in more than two years, the Central Bank said in its June bulletin.
At the end of June, the deposits were nearly Dh36bn below their level of Dh85.6bn at the end of 2009, the figures showed.
The cut was offset by a surge in the Central Bank’s investment in held-to-maturity foreign securities, which jumped by around Dh15bn to nearly Dh33.1bn at the end of June from Dh18.4bn at the end of May.
The investments in such tools were only about Dh37 million at the end of 2009.
The report showed the Central Bank’s total assets grew to around Dh202.08bn at the end of June from Dh199.7bn at the end of May. Foreign assets slipped to about Dh82.9bn from Dh84.3bn in the same period.
Loans to banks against certificates of deposits (CDs) edged down slightly to about Dh2.42bn from Dh2.49bn while loans to the Ministry of Finance and the Dubai Government remained at Dh106.7bn.
Loans to banks under the Dh50bn liquidity support facility introduced by the Central Bank in the wake of the 2008 global fiscal crisis remained unchanged at Dh1.99bn at the end of June compared with the previous month.
Emirates Business
