It’s a big week for global economies tied to the dollar with the US Federal Reserve widely expected to cut interest rates at its meeting.

Interest rates are a signal of how the Fed views the health of the economy and where it thinks things are heading. The decision heavily affects the economies of Gulf countries such as the Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, whose currencies are tied to the dollar.

It also directly affects consumers. For example, a cut could make it cheaper to borrow to buy a car or a home, and to use your credit card, but may also lower returns on your savings.

In this week's Business Extra, host Salim Essaid is joined by James Swanston, a senior Middle East and North Africa economist at Capital Economics, to explain how the Fed's decision on interest rates could ripple through the region’s economies.