Interest rates on private and business loans in Bahrain were lower at the end of third quarter of the year which dropped to 6.61 per cent and 5.32 per cent respectively.

Interest rate on deposits for three months to 12 months surged to 1.01 per cent, the Central Bank of Bahrain said in its quarterly statistics report.

The average interest rate on credit cards reached 20.72 per cent.

BMI Bank, Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank topped the interest rates list with 22 per cent, followed by HSBC at 20.5 per cent, NBB at 20.28 per cent, Bahraini Saudi Bank at 19.5 per cent, Ahli United Bank at 18.86 per cent, BBK 18.3 per cent and National Bank of Abu Dhabi 17.5 per cent.-TradeArabia News Service