Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
It is not surprising that Italian bank shares slumped this week after the government announced that it is imposing a windfall tax on the banks. The decision seemed to come out of the blue and to have been cobbled together at the last minute with several …
11th August 2023
Upside risks to inflation still remain The RBI kept the repo rate on hold at 6.50% as expected this week and maintained a hawkish tone amid the recent surge in food prices. The Bank revised up its inflation forecast for Q3 significantly (from 5.2% to …
Aramco’s profit slump ≠ austerity The slump in the profits of Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Aramco, in Q2 has focussed attention on the deterioration in the Kingdom’s budget position. But the authorities appear to be taking as many steps as possible …
10th August 2023
More reasons for the Bank to remain on hold The further rise in the unemployment rate in July and signs that the housing market is cooling again are both reasons to doubt that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates further. Employment weakened in …
4th August 2023
Brazil and Chile spring dovish surprise The decisions in the past week by central banks in both Chile and Brazil to cut interest rates confirm that Latin America remains at the front of the pack in this global monetary cycle. Having been among the first …
CEE easing cycles around the corner Expectations for the start of monetary easing cycles in Poland and Czechia were strengthened this week after the publication of weaker-than-expected Polish inflation figures for July and the shift in language at the …
Peak does not mean pivot Whether you took this week’s 25 basis point (bps) rise in interest rates, from 5.00% to 5.25%, and the Bank of England’s accompanying communications as hawkish or dovish largely depends on your prior expectations. We thought it …
Core inflation remains a concern Figures from the Philippines published earlier today show that headline inflation fell to 4.7% y/y in July. This compares with 5.4% in June and a peak of 8.7% in January. Falling food and energy price inflation have been …
Government delivering on capex promise so far We noted at the time of the FY23/24 Union Budget announcement that the government appeared to be putting more emphasis on boosting longer-term prospects than had previously been the case. Capital expenditure …
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate unchanged at 4.10%, upending the consensus forecast for a 25bp rate hike. The Bank’s detailed Monetary Policy Statement , published earlier today, showed that the Board did discuss the option of …
10-year yield continues to rise The Bank of Japan’s defence of Yield Curve Control (YCC) has devolved this week into a rearguard action. Since last Friday’s policy tweak to allow the 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield to rise above 0.5%, the …
Central Bank of Nigeria’s reluctance to hike This week, the CBN’s policy rate hike of 25bp underwhelmed markets, presenting further evidence that Nigerian policymakers are trading off growth concerns with their inflation mandate. The MPC chose to hike …
28th July 2023
The Bank of Canada’s Summary of Deliberations highlighted the Bank’s concern that inflation could become stuck above the 2% target. Although headline inflation faces a bumpy downward path over the coming months, we think a faster easing in core inflation …
This week’s FOMC meeting brought hints that Fed officials are no longer wedded to previous plans for further policy tightening. Even if activity growth continues to hold up a bit better than expected, we think a run of weaker inflation readings will …
Erkan delivers, but lingering doubts remain All eyes were on Turkey’s central bank governor on Thursday and she delivered a convincing message during the Inflation Report briefing. The priority is clearly for a more rounded policy shift than one that …
Weaker labour market Singapore’s labour market remains very tight, but there are growing signs that it is starting to loosen. According to figures published on Thursday, employment growth eased from 1.0% q/q in Q1 to 0.7% in Q2, while the unemployment …
GDP data released this week suggest that the euro-zone economy held up better than we expected in Q2. Output rose in France and Spain and stagnated in Germany . Together, the national data point to euro-zone GDP rising by 0.4% in Q2 rather than falling …
China’s leadership promises more support The highlight of the week was Monday’s Politburo meeting. Although light on specifics, the readout was dovish in tone and made clear that more policy easing is on its way. While substantial direct support for …
One consequence of higher interest rates is an increase in the losses that the Bank of England will make via the bonds it bought during its quantitative easing (QE) programme. This week, the Bank published an estimate that it could make a huge £150bn …
Reforms to take a back seat for now In an otherwise quiet week, the big news from the past few days is that India’s parliament has approved a no-confidence vote lodged by opposition parties against Prime Minister Modi’s BJP-led government. The motion has …
Real household incomes falling at rapid pace Data released last week underline that Japanese households are struggling to cope with rising living costs. While labour income rose at a robust pace, a slump in government transfer payments resulted in a 1.6% …
Mbappé or not, Saudi gov’t focussed on sports The Saudi Pro League went from the back pages to the front pages this week as Al-Hilal (a football club recently acquired by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund) made a world record $335mn bid for PSG’s Kylian …
27th July 2023
The Fed is almost certain to hike its policy rate by 25bp to between 5.25% and 5.50% at next week’s FOMC meeting, but we increasingly believe that will prove to be the peak. Despite the ‘higher for longer’ rhetoric from officials, a more marked decline …
21st July 2023
Despite the fall in CPI inflation from 8.7% in May to 7.9% in June (see here ), the UK is still lumbered with an inflation rate that is 1.4 percentage points (ppts) higher than in the euro-zone. And at 4.8ppt, the gap between UK and US CPI inflation …
Russian FinMin throwing in the towel? A raft of comments from senior policymakers at the Russian Ministry of Finance this week highlight the pressures that the public finances are under and how policymakers are likely to tighten fiscal policy in response …
Argentina continues to dodge exchange rate issue An Argentine delegation travelled to Washington this week in a bid to close negotiations with the IMF on the fifth review of the country’s $44bn Extended Fund Facility (and, according to local media, to …
In a relatively quiet week for euro-zone economists, the most important release was the final inflation data for June. Unusually, these were revised slightly from the flash release as core HICP inflation is now estimated to have edged up to 5.5% rather …
New Zealand inflation looks sticky CPI data published on Wednesday revealed that New Zealand’s consumer prices rose by 1.1% q/q in Q2, only slightly below the 1.2% quarterly rise in Q1. Nonetheless, favourable base effects meant that annual inflation fell …
The Bank of Canada struck a hawkish tone at its meeting this week, emphasising persistent excess demand and sticky price inflation. Nonetheless, with the upgrades to the Bank’s GDP and inflation forecasts putting them above our own, we think the hike this …
14th July 2023
More signs of economic weakness Activity data released this week brought further evidence that euro-zone GDP contracted in Q2. While industrial production edged up by 0.2% m/m in May, it is still set to have fallen in Q2 as a whole, barring an increase of …
May data underscore Turkey’s vulnerabilities The raft of Turkish activity and balance of payments data for May published this week highlighted the precarious nature the economy was in prior to the shift back to orthodox economic policymaking. The …
As we had anticipated following the publication of the recent review into the institutional framework of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Governor Lowe’s term will end in September. The government announced today that Deputy Governor Bullock will become the …
Shunto may be more influential than we thought Regular wage growth hit 1.8% y/y in May, the biggest rise in almost thirty years. It’s still too early to tell but the May data might mark the start of the elusive virtuous cycle between rising wages and …
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed back above 4% this week, as markets interpreted the minutes of the mid-June FOMC meeting as hawkish and reacted to signs that, although labour market conditions may be easing, wage growth remains too high. Most …
7th July 2023
Wage growth to climb higher in Australia The big news out of Australia this week was the RBA’s decision to skip a rate hike at its meeting on Tuesday. However, the decision to stay put was largely motivated by a desire to reassess the outlook with a new …
There was plenty for the Bank of Canada to digest this week, with the data showing that core inflation fell in May even as GDP growth picked up strongly again. The resilience of economic activity makes us think that the Bank is still leaning toward …
30th June 2023
BCB: A parsimonious process The minutes to last week’s Brazilian central bank meeting made waves, revealing that a majority of Copom members expect to lower interest rates at the next meeting in August. We had thought the more cautious tone of the …
It’s been another tough week for the Bank of England. The week began with the Bank’s Chief Economist, Huw Pill, defending its inflation models in a letter to the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee and ended with Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member, …
PBOC surveys offer clues on propensity to spend… Yesterday, the People’s Bank (PBOC) published the latest results of its quarterly surveys, in which it polls 3,200 banks, 5,000 industrial enterprises and 20,000 households across 50 cities. These offer a …
Kenya: Thugge makes his mark Kenya’s central bank hiked interest rates by 100bp, to 10.50%, at an unscheduled meeting this week. The move was pinned on an increase in inflation in May, but more than anything it seems to be a strong attempt by new governor …
We are nudging up our peak ECB rate forecast in light of communications from ECB officials at Sintra and the latest economic data. We now see 25bp rate hikes in both July and September, taking the deposit rate to 4%. As a reminder, we were forecasting …
Recent data fan Bank of Canada's fears The latest Summary of Deliberations gave no hint about whether the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again at the July meeting but, with little progress yet on any of the key factors that the Bank is watching, …
23rd June 2023
BRL rally for real? The Brazilian real’s recent rich vein of form has continued this week, with the currency appreciating by a further 1.5% against the dollar, to 4.8/$. Several factors have supported this, including improvements in Brazil’s trade balance …
It’s been an extremely tough week for the Bank of England and its Governor, Andrew Bailey. Wednesday’s CPI release revealed the second shocking surge in core inflation in a row and appeared to confirm our view that the inflation problem is bigger in the …
In a quiet week for economic data, the biggest news was further evidence of a turnaround in housing activity, with housing starts jumping by 22% m/m in May to their highest level in a year. The sheer scale of that move did look a little suspicious and …
A cut, a hold .... and an underwhelming hike The three central bank meetings that took place across the region this week all produced different outcomes, and policymakers’ communications suggest interest rates in these countries will continue to move in …
Zambia secures deal with official creditors This week saw Zambia edge closer to getting a debt restructuring over the line, but an agreement with official creditors suggested that there remain sticking points when it comes to negotiations with China. …
Inflation continues to fall Inflation in Malaysia fell back for a ninth consecutive month in May according to figures published today. At 2.8% y/y, inflation is now well below last August’s peak of 4.7%. We expect price pressures to ease further over the …
This week, we published our latest Europe Economic Outlook . Three key points are worth highlighting. First, the euro-zone economy is likely to remain in recession for the rest of 2023. Admittedly, this year’s fall in gas prices will support demand and …
Strength in inflation not prompting a rethink A Reuters survey published before last week’s Bank of Japan meeting showed that two-thirds of analysts polled expected the Bank to scale back policy easing this year, with 43% predicting it would happen as …
