Emerging Europe Economics Update BoI offers no new guidance, 2022 rate hike still in play The Bank of Israel (BoI) left its policy rate on hold at 0.10% as expected at its meeting today, confirmed that it will end its bond purchase programme next month and emphasised that it will continue... 22nd November 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Assessing the risks in Turkey’s banking sector Turkey’s banks are generally in a good position to cope with sharp falls in the lira: they have large capital buffers to deal with a rise in non-performing loans, off-balance sheet instruments to... 22nd November 2021 · 5 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Lira sell-off and lessons from other “sudden stops” The fresh falls in the Turkish lira following the CBRT’s interest rate cut today have left Turkey firmly in crisis territory and echoes of previous “sudden stops” during major EM currency crises in... 18th November 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update CBRT defies investors with rate cut, crisis risks mount The sharp falls in the lira over the past few days clearly weren’t enough for Turkey’s central bank to stand up to President Erdogan as it pushed ahead with a 100bp cut (to 15.00%) to its one-week... 18th November 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update All eyes on CBRT as Turkish lira continues to tumble There has been no let up for the Turkish lira today and all eyes are turning to the central bank’s interest rate decision tomorrow. Policymakers’ increased tolerance to falls in the lira as well as... 17th November 2021 · 4 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update MNB drops a bombshell as it pledges faster tightening Investors were initially disappointed following the decision by Hungary’s central bank (MNB) to raise its base rate by only 30bp (to 2.10%) today, but the hawkish post-meeting communications and a... 16th November 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey: threat of currency crisis continues to grow The Turkish lira has remained under significant pressure at the start of this week and there is a growing risk that the central bank’s continued obedience to pressure from President Erdogan for... 16th November 2021 · 6 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Fiscal policy in Israel set to lose its punch The phasing out of crisis support and strength of tax revenues have boosted Israel’s public finances and the conservative stance of last week’s budget will help to narrow the deficit towards 3% of GDP... 11th November 2021 · 5 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Rate hikes to take some heat out of growth and inflation The sharp tightening of monetary policy in the region will strengthen the preference for savings, dampen lending growth and raise debt servicing costs next year. It is plausible to think that higher... 9th November 2021 · 5 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Long road ahead for CEE auto producers Auto producers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have experienced intermittent factory closures in the second half of this year and things may get worse before they get better. Motor vehicles... 5th November 2021 · 4 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update CNB slams its foot on the brakes with monster rate hike The Czech National Bank (CNB) shocked everyone with a 125bp interest rate hike at today’s meeting and while this was clearly intended to front-load tightening, the hawkish communications suggest that... 4th November 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update NBP takes its head out of the sand with large rate hike The National Bank of Poland’s (NBP) decision to raise its policy rate by a larger-than-expected 75bp to 1.25% alongside the upwards revision to its inflation forecast suggests to us that the NBP is... 3rd November 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey: comparisons with the 2018 currency crisis The economic and political backdrop in Turkey is eerily similar to that which preceded the currency crisis in 2018, although one key difference now is that the lira doesn’t appear to be fundamentally... 3rd November 2021 · 4 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Virus outbreaks shine spotlight on vaccine hesitancy The surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Eastern Europe has prompted the re-imposition of restrictions and it looks like measures will be stepped up, weighing on recoveries in Q4. Tight restrictions... 28th October 2021 · 4 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Assessing the winners and losers from high energy prices Oil, gas and coal prices have reached multi-year highs in recent weeks and this Update takes a look at some of the implications for the region. In short, an improvement in Russia’s terms of trade has... 28th October 2021 · 6 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update CBR accelerates its tightening cycle again Russia’s central bank (CBR) stepped up the pace of its tightening cycle again at today’s meeting with a larger-than-expected 75bp interest rate hike, to 7.50%, and the hawkish tone of the accompanying... 22nd October 2021 · 3 mins read
