The UAE wants a dollar lifeline

阿联酋渴望获得美元援助之线

The Indicator from Planet Money

2026-04-30

8 分钟
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With the Iran War underway, the United Arab Emirates is looking for some economic certainty. The rich Arab nation is home to a lot of foreign-held deposits, and they’re worried investors will pull those funds. So, they’re looking for an economic backstop. Enter: currency swap lines. Today, we explain why the UAE is looking to its close ally, the U.S., for a currency swap line and how it would work. The Indicator has a weekly newsletter! Be among the first to sign up now: npr.org/indicatornewsletter  Related episodes: Where the US got $20B to bail out ArgentinaScott Bessent’s $20 billion dollar gamble on Argentina For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.   See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
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  • NPR.

  • This is The Indicator for Planet Money.

  • I'm Adrian Ma.

  • And I'm Patti Hirsch.

  • The United Arab Emirates, one of the wealthiest of the Gulf states and home to the vaunted city of Dubai,

  • has requested something called a currency swap line from the U.S.

  • And it's not just the UAE.

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said a number of allies in the Gulf region and in Asia have requested swap lines,

  • although he did not say which those countries are.

  • He said they would need those lines, that access to US dollars,

  • to help deal with energy shocks, another fallout from the Middle East war.

  • He also said the US would benefit from providing a swap line to the UAE.

  • Now, there 's some talk that the UAE's withdrawal from the OPEC cartel this week

  • might have been part of a swap line deal, but that has n't been confirmed.

  • And we've talked about currency swap lines on the show before, like the one the US extended to Argentina last year.

  • But on today's show, we 'll explain just how currency swap lines work and why the UAE and maybe

  • some other countries might need them.

  • That's all coming up after the break.

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