Emerging Europe Economics Update Hungary’s MPC signals loose policy to stay The Hungarian MPC’s extremely dovish post-meeting press statement provided further evidence that policymakers are as yet untroubled by growing signs of capacity constraints. Monetary policy is set to... 20th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russia: CBR governor strikes cautious note Relatively hawkish comments from the Russian central bank today appear to be aimed at dampening hopes that the pace of monetary easing might be stepped up. But while the policy rate is likely to be... 16th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkish MPC ends tightening cycle but stays hawkish The Turkish central bank ended the recent tightening cycle today, but high inflation, strong GDP growth (this year at least), and hawkish comments from the MPC, mean that a shift towards interest rate... 15th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russia: tighter US sanctions would have limited impact Legislation passed by the US Senate to tighten the sanctions regime on Russia provides further reason to think that medium-term growth in Russia will be extremely weak. But the near-term economic... 15th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Polish rates to rise further than most expect by end-2018 The press conference that followed today’s MPC meeting in Poland highlighted that some members of the Council are becoming more hawkish. While this supports our view that the policy interest rate will... 7th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey’s economic recovery levelling off Turkish GDP figures due next week are likely to show that the recovery levelled off in the first quarter at around 3.5% y/y. But there are signs of a healthy rebalancing of the drivers of growth. 6th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Sentiment starts to shift on Poland’s MPC The combination of strong growth and rising core inflation has led some members of Poland’s MPC to strike a more hawkish tone in recent months. However, while this is consistent with our view that... 5th June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Latest Banking Heat Map paints a broadly positive picture Our latest Banking Heat Map paints a broadly positive picture. Banks in Romania and Hungary – which have been among the weakest in Emerging Europe over the past decade – are returning to health, and... 2nd June 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Low food inflation keeps EM inflation near eight-year low Aggregate EM inflation remained close to an eight-year low in April, largely reflecting a slump in food inflation in major economies such as China and Brazil. While this weakness will soon reverse in... 30th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russia’s recovery to be stronger than consensus expects Despite a gradual shift in the consensus over the past couple of months, we still think that markets are underestimating the extent to which inflation and interest rates in Russia are likely to fall... 30th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Central Europe’s currencies outperform Currencies in Central Europe have been the best performing in the emerging world over the past month and we think that they should generally fare well in the coming years. 26th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Central Europe: construction rebound driving faster growth A recovery in construction appears to have been the key driver of the marked acceleration in GDP growth across Central Europe in Q1. This rebound is likely to be sustained over the course of 2017... 26th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Introducing our Taylor Rules for Central and Eastern Europe The combination of strong growth and rising inflation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has shifted attention to when and how policymakers might respond. To help answer this, we’ve created Taylor... 25th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Dovish Polish MPC suggests rate hikes unlikely in 2017 The statement that followed today’s MPC meeting in Poland was broadly unchanged from previous months and suggests that any change in interest rates is unlikely in the coming months. But with core... 17th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Czech markets unfazed by ongoing political drama Financial markets in the Czech Republic have, for the most part, shrugged off the various twists and turns in the political crisis that has gripped the country over the past couple of weeks... 16th May 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russian central bank likely to bring more surprises for markets In a recent Quick Take audio recording (available here), we discussed why the Central Bank of Russia had caught the markets (but not us) off guard at its last two meetings and why interest rates are... 12th May 2017 · 1 min read