Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
Israel’s virus wave could be a warning for others The experience of Israel in recent weeks serves as a reminder that vaccine campaigns across Emerging Europe still have some way to go and that we are likely to have to learn to live with COVID long term. …
16th July 2021
The Bank of Canada expects GDP to move above its pre-pandemic trend in 2023 but, given the potential for oil prices and residential investment to decline, we think its forecasts will prove too optimistic. Alongside its decision to keep the policy rate …
Overview – The euro-zone is on the way to an almost full recovery. We expect Germany to regain its pre-pandemic level of activity later this year and the tourist-dependent southern countries to do so next year. The Delta variant may lead to some voluntary …
Cyclically healthy, structurally ailing China’s post-lockdown recovery has often been called patchy, with household spending still weak. We’ve never been entirely comfortable with that characterisation. Retail spending on goods has been back near the …
In response to the jump in CPI inflation from 2.1% in May to 2.5% in June (see here ) and yet more signs that the labour market is bouncing back (see here ), two members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) this week indicated that policy will need to …
Virus cases surge in South East Asia The virus situation across South East Asia has gone from bad to worse over the past couple of weeks (see Chart 1), with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all reporting a record high number of daily cases. The …
The Bank of Japan today unveiled the details of its green lending facility, underlining that its focus is now moving away from addressing the pandemic towards longer-term structural issues . As universally anticipated, the Bank of Japan kept its interest …
RBNZ will hike rates next month We forecast at the end of last year that the RBNZ would end its asset purchase scheme by the middle of this year, one year ahead of schedule. While we had expected the Bank to wait until August, the Bank announced this week …
Falling virus cases, strong economic recoveries and/or inflation worries prompted several more EM central banks – those of Czechia , Chile , Hungary and Mexico – to tighten monetary policy in the past month, joining Russia and Brazil. And a few others, …
15th July 2021
Governing Council will not change its key policy settings next week. However, it will amend its forward guidance to reflect its new, more dovish strategy. The new guidance will push back the likely timetable for any future rate hike. The ECB will set out …
Overview – The lifting of restrictions and ongoing policy support should translate into a sustained period of above-potential GDP growth, driven by consumption and business investment. We expect GDP growth of 6.3% in 2021 and 4.0% in 2022, followed by a …
Chile’s central bank fired the starting gun on a gradual tightening cycle yesterday as it hiked its policy rate by 25bp, to 0.75%. While it signalled that monetary policy will remain accommodative over the next two years, we think that Chile’s strong …
Overview - Sydney’s lockdown will keep a lid on Australia’s recovery for now, but booming housing markets should support consumer spending and dwellings investment in both countries. We don’t expect labour shortages to ease much when the border opens, so …
The Bank of Korea (BoK) left its main policy rate on hold at 0.50% today and signalled that a rate hike is still very much on the table this year. While the worsening virus situation has made things more uncertain, comments from the press conference …
The Bank of Canada’s decision to continue tapering its asset purchases today came as little surprise and we continue to expect the Bank to bring the QE program to a close by the end of this year. With the Bank’s new GDP forecasts looking too optimistic to …
14th July 2021
The RBNZ today sent a hawkish signal by announcing the end of its bond purchases. While we currently expect the Bank to start hiking rates in May next year, the risk is that it will happen earlier . The Bank’s asset purchases have fallen very sharply in …
Overview – Supply shortages will ease only gradually over the next couple of years, putting sustained upward pressure on core inflation and constraining real activity. We expect core inflation to remain above 3% for the remainder of this year, with only a …
13th July 2021
We think that US core CPI inflation rose above 4% last month (13.30 BST) China’s June trade data should show how much disruption port closures caused Read our highest conviction macro forecasts and their market implications here Key Market Themes The …
12th July 2021
Banxico minutes: surprises and hints of more hikes The minutes to Banxico’s June 24 th meeting , where it delivered a surprise 25bp hike, were fairly hawkish and reaffirm our initial view that more tightening is in the pipeline. We now expect a further …
9th July 2021
Tech crackdown goes to New York… Decoupling has entered a new phase over the past year. Where China previously was trying to temper US efforts to decouple, in key areas it now appears to want the same. The Five-Year Plan’s push for self-sufficiency in …
The People’s Bank (PBOC) has just announced a 50 basis point cut to the required reserve ratio (RRR) for most banks. This is less of a lurch towards monetary easing than it might seem at first glance – it is partly intended to offset tightening elsewhere. …
MNB to stay hawkish for now The surprisingly large rise in Hungarian inflation to 5.3% y/y in June – its highest rate in almost nine years – suggests that the risks to our interest rate forecast are skewed to the upside. The central bank (MNB) took a …
Inflation won’t threaten monetary policy outlook The yield on India’s ten-year government bond this week jumped to its highest since the start of April. (See Chart 1.) Overnight index swap rates have also spiked since mid-June. Taken together, they point …
RBA starts to taper RBA Governor Phillip Lowe has had a hectic week, with two speeches and the RBA’s July Policy decision. While the Governor reiterated that the RBA still believes policy support is likely to be needed for a long time, the stance of …
Security holdings may edge down as JGB purchases are tapered further Near term inflation forecasts to be revised up Climate change funds likely to be interest-free but impact will be small At its July meeting we expect the Bank of Japan to outline that it …
Price pressures start to ease After reaching a 12-year high in May, producer price inflation dropped back in June as the rally in global commodity prices faltered. Consumer price inflation declined too, on the back of a sharp drop in pork prices. We think …
Poland’s central bank left interest rates on hold today and, while it revised up its GDP growth and inflation forecasts, there was little sign in the accompanying press statement that the balance on the MPC has shifted further away from the ultra-dovish …
8th July 2021
ECB announces revamp of its policy framework, including new inflation target China’s June inflation data may point to easing price pressures (02.30 BST) UK GDP probably grew strongly in May as COVID-19 restrictions lifted (07.00 BST) Key Market Themes …
The details of the monetary strategy review were slightly less radical than had been suggested in parts of the financial media. But the changes announced today still amount to a historic shift away from Bundesbank orthodoxy and towards the mainstream. We …
Rising inflation to prompt rate hikes in Brazil and Chile The further rise in Brazilian inflation, to 8.3% y/y, means Copom will continue to hike when it meets next month. But the data are not quite enough to prompt a shift from 75bp hikes to a larger …
Strong inflation will keep Banxico in tightening mode The rise in Mexico’s core inflation to 4.6% y/y in June was largely driven by temporary factors which will gradually unwind. Nonetheless, given Banxico’s recent hawkish shift, and with headline and …
If confirmed, the ECB’s decision to adopt a 2% inflation target and allow room to overshoot it if needed would mark a historic shift towards the mainstream for the ECB. It would have no immediate implications for monetary policy, but in the longer run may …
The fact that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) left its policy rate on hold at 1.75% today despite the poor economic outlook means any further loosening is unlikely. But with the recovery set to be slow and fitful, we think BNM will leave interest rates at …
CBE to keep rates on hold for now as inflation drifts higher Egypt’s headline inflation rate edged up to 4.9% y/y in June and is likely to increase further over the coming months. Against this backdrop, we think the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will keep …
Inflation rise will spook CBR The further rise in Russian inflation to a stronger-than-expected 6.5% y/y in June means the central bank (CBR) is likely to up the pace of tightening when it meets in a couple of weeks. A 75bp hike (to 6.25%) seems most …
7th July 2021
We expect Poland’s central bank to stay on hold but revise up its forecast for GDP and inflation Inflation probably remained unchanged in Mexico last month (12.00 BST) … … while inflation is likely to have edged up in Brazil and Chile (13.00 BST) Key …
Economy has developed as expected, so Bank likely to announce further taper Bank to keep signalling interest rates on hold until at least second half of 2022 New measures of labour market slack may shed light on reaction function As it is widely …
Economic recovery continues to beat RBNZ expectations Bank likely to end QE in the months ahead We expect the RBNZ to hike rates in May next year We doubt the RBNZ will adjust any policy settings when it meets next Wednesday 14 th July. However, as the …
Overview - Japan’s lagging vaccine rollout has finally reached cruising speed, which should allow a rapid recovery in activity over the second half of the year. The labour market may soon be as tight as it was before the pandemic, but we expect this …
Fed minutes may shed more light on officials’ latest thinking about tapering (14.00 BST) We expect Germany’s industrial production to have edged up in May (07.00 BST) Russia’s headline inflation probably rose last month (17.00 BST) Key Market Themes …
6th July 2021
We expect some major central banks to issue digital currencies later this decade, with those in countries where cash is rarest proceeding the fastest. The first generation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be purposely designed not to shake …
By tapering its bond purchases and watering down its commitment to keep its policy rate unchanged until 2024, the RBA is paving the way for interest rate hikes in 2023 . The Bank's decision to shift to a flexible form of quantitative easing that doesn't …
Israel’s strong economic recovery prompted the central bank to phase out one of its emergency support programmes at today’s meeting and Governor Yaron’s comments suggest that the next step towards policy normalisation may involve the end of the bond …
5th July 2021
The US dollar is ending the week stronger against most currencies, although it has fallen back a little this afternoon despite the stronger-than-expected non-farm payrolls report . While that reaction is perhaps a bit puzzling, the bigger picture is that …
2nd July 2021
CBRT unlikely to win the war with dollarisation Turkey’s central bank (CBRT) took steps this week to tackle deposit dollarisation in the banking sector, but these efforts will fail to make headway in the absence of a stronger commitment to rein in high …
We aren’t convinced that it will mark the start of a sustained acceleration, but the stronger gain in June payrolls will embolden those Fed officials calling for an earlier end to the Fed’s asset purchases. The 850,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in June …
“Stockholm Street” or “Stockholm-enders”? This week saw the latest instalment of the political soap opera in Sweden. Having lost a “no confidence” vote on the 21 st June (see here ), the resignation of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Monday means the …
Thailand’s reopening Thailand’s tourism sector will remain heavily depressed despite this week’s reopening of Phuket to foreign tourists. Since Thursday, fully-vaccinated foreigners have been allowed to visit the island without needing to quarantine …
Vacancies off the chart The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ measure of job vacancies surged 23.4% in Q2 which means they are now more than 50% above their pre-virus level. Job vacancies are now equivalent to 2.62% of the labour force, far higher than the …
Overview – India’s ferocious second virus wave is subsiding as quickly as it emerged, enabling the recovery to get back on track. However, the rapid scaling back of containment measures that is underway increases the threat of further outbreaks. And …
1st July 2021