Question

The Bank of Key West is not going to have enough reserves at the end of the business day to meet its reserve requirement of 10%. It currently has two options to borrow money overnight in order to meet the requirement. First, it could borrow money from the Federal Reserve at a rate of 1.15%. Second, it could borrows money from the other banks at a rate of 0.35%. Using this information answer the following questions.
1. What is the federal funds rate?
Number: _____%

2. What is the discount rate?
Number: _____%

Answer 1

Answer:

1. 0.35%

2. 1.15%

Explanation:

The federal funds rate is the rate at which a bank can borrow funds from other depository institutions such as other banks and credit unions for overnight without collaterals. It is a very short term interest rate.  

Discount rate at which the federal reserve system provides funds to commercial banks at the discount window. The federal reserve can control the money supply by changing the discount rate.  

Here, in the given example, the federal reserve rate is 0.35%, as it is the rate at which the bank can borrow from other banks. While the discount rate is 1.15%, as this is the rate at which banks can borrow from the federal reserve.