Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
Our Taylor Rules suggest that monetary easing cycles have further to run in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, and we have pencilled in additional interest rate cuts in all three countries. Moreover, monetary policy across the region is likely to be looser than …
11th June 2020
The Swiss National Bank and the Norges Bank are all but certain to leave their policy settings unchanged at the scheduled announcements next Thursday (18 th June) and for the foreseeable future. Recall that the SNB left interest rates on hold at -0.75% at …
MPC likely to announce another £100bn of QE in June… …and that won’t be the last expansion Negative interest rates possible, but far from guaranteed The Bank of England has much more work to do. It will probably start by announcing £100bn more …
TARGET2 imbalances are set to rise to record levels over the year ahead on the back of the ECB’s planned wave of asset purchases. While this may be dismissed by some as a benign and technical side-effect of the ECB’s policies, it would indicate that, …
The Fed left its policy stance broadly unchanged at the conclusion of today’s FOMC meeting, but it did strengthen its forward guidance a little – by publishing interest rate projections that show nearly all officials believe the fed funds rate will still …
10th June 2020
Existing lending schemes still well below ceilings But latest supplementary budget foresees additional subsidised lending Bank to secure funding for commercial lenders by further increase in lending schemes The Bank of Japan has already done a lot to …
9th June 2020
The minutes of the Reserve Bank’s late May policy meeting – in which it trimmed both the repo and reverse repo rates – show that the MPC has become markedly more bearish on the outlook for economic growth amid the coronavirus containment hit. And with …
8th June 2020
SNB breathes a sigh of relief as the franc slides The positive policy moves out of Europe – including the ECB’s decision yesterday to increase the size and duration of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme – have reinforced the sense that policymakers …
5th June 2020
The economic data released this week have simply confirmed what we already knew: that April was completely catastrophic for the euro-zone economy but that there has since been a gradual resumption in activity throughout the region. Euro-zone retail sales …
The ECB’s decision to increase the size and duration of the PEPP should sustain the positive sentiment towards the euro-zone in the near term and reinforce the sense that, for now, European policymakers have got their act together. But more difficult …
4th June 2020
The swift and significant response of the Bank of England to the coronavirus crisis has prevented a financial crisis, but we think the Bank will need to do much more than the markets currently expect to get the economy back on track. By this time next …
The Bank of Canada made no new policy announcements today and instead scaled back some of its liquidity operations. But with its focus now shifting to “supporting the resumption of growth”, we think new Governor Tiff Macklem will expand the Bank’s asset …
3rd June 2020
Low yields mean there is no rush to adopt yield curve control FOMC could make an impact just by publishing interest rate projections again Fed slow to roll out its 13( 3 ) emergency lending facilities The Fed has several different policy options for …
The ECB has been purchasing a disproportionate share of Italian government bonds, but they are less heavily skewed towards Italy than we had anticipated. This in turn means that there may be less risk of a renewed flare-up of tensions over the ECB’s asset …
2nd June 2020
A look at South Africa’s recent history would suggest that the monetary easing cycle has further to run. We now expect an additional 75bp of cuts in the coming months, taking the repo rate from the current 3.75% to 3.00% by year-end. This is more …
The RBA sounded cautiously optimistic when it left policy settings unchanged today, but we still think that it will expand government bond purchases soon. The RBA surprised no one by keeping both the target for the cash rate and the target for 3-year …
Skingsley leaves the door open to a repo rate cut This morning’s upward revision to Swedish Q1 GDP, from the initial estimate of -0.3% to +0.1%, adds to the evidence that the country has enjoyed some economic benefit from its light-touch lockdown. That …
29th May 2020
While this week’s high frequency data have confirmed that the low point for the economy is behind us, the figures have done little to alleviate our concerns that the recovery will be protracted. The good news is that after giving the green light to some …
Bank lending to firms jumped again in April, suggesting that government loan guarantees and cheap ECB funding for banks are having the desired effects. But the central bank’s work is far from done. We expect it to announce a further increase in its …
As the lockdowns have largely come to an end in both countries, output is starting to recover. In New Zealand, most activity is now allowed to resume, though gatherings are limited to 100 people. In Australia, states are easing restrictions at different …
The ECB is likely to increase the PEPP by a minimum of €500bn next week. Policymakers may also say the PEPP will run until at least mid-2021. We no longer anticipate a further reduction in the deposit rate. Policymakers have signalled their intention to …
28th May 2020
We think that today’s 100bp interest rate cut by the Nigerian central bank, to 12.50%, will be followed by further loosening as economic recovery proves weaker than the central bank expects. We have pencilled in an extra 50bp cut, most likely at the …
The prospect of a joint European fiscal response has helped to ease upward pressure on the Swiss franc and means that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the SNB following its recent bout of FX interventions. While monetary policy will remain …
The Bank of Korea (BoK) cut its policy rate by 25bps to a new record low of 0.50% and gave some vague assurances that it would act to keep long term government bond yields down. With growth likely to disappoint and conventional policy reaching its limit, …
First meeting for new governor Tiff Macklem. Some positive signs since last meeting, but some worrying ones as well. Downside risks raise the case for more policy support. We expect the Bank of Canada to announce additional corporate bond purchases next …
27th May 2020
The Labour Force Survey shows that the number of hours worked dropped by 28% between February and April. As the bulk of the hours lost have been in relatively low-productivity sectors, GDP should not fall by that much. But we still expect a total decline …
26th May 2020
Previous government bond purchases were focused on restoring liquidity Unemployment is rising and inflation set to slump Bank may launch fresh round of purchases focused on lowering long-term rates We suspect that the Reserve Bank of Australia will keep …
Policymakers have more work to do The account of April’s ECB meeting, published today, shows that the Governing Council has left the door wide open to further monetary policy support. As a reminder, at that meeting the Council made the Targeted …
22nd May 2020
Bank of Korea to get unconventional The Bank of Korea is likely to cut its policy rate to a record low of 0.5% and step up non-conventional support at its meeting on Thursday. At its last meeting in early April, the Bank held rates steady. (See here .) …
The RBI has further stepped up its response to the collapse in economic activity from the coronavirus and containment measures in another emergency announcement today. The central bank has also left the door open for further loosening and, with the …
This Update summarises the key announcements from the National People's Congress. For in depth analysis, see this Focus . We had anticipated that the National People’s Congress (NPC) would lay out plans for a further ramp up in policy support and it did …
The Bank of Japan launched a new lending facility today to support bank lending to small businesses and we suspect its measures will now be sufficient to secure the financing needs of firms throughout the coronavirus crisis. As widely anticipated, the …
Inflation drops sharply and will turn deeply negative Headline inflation turned negative in April for the first time since 2016 adjusting for the impact of October’s sales tax hike. We expect it to weaken further over the coming months as services and …
South African policymakers continued to cut interest rates today, taking the repo rate down by 50bp to 3.75%, but the end of the easing cycle appears to be on the horizon. At this stage, we expect one more cut, of 25bp, to 3.50%. With the eventual …
21st May 2020
Turkey’s central bank stepped up its monetary support for the economy with a 50bp cut in interest rates today and recent announcements of financial support from Qatar and Japan probably tips the balance in favour of further easing at June’s meeting. A …
With policy rates close to the zero bound in Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, we think it is only a matter of time before central banks in these economies implement full-blown quantitative easing (QE) programmes. Malaysia may not be far behind either. But …
Despite a stringent lockdown that has lasted nearly two months, new recorded cases of COVID-19 in India remain on a sharp upward trajectory and hit a record high yesterday. (See Chart 1.) The true number of cases is likely to be higher still given limited …
20th May 2020
With the economy in a massive slump and prices falling sharply, today’s decision by the Bank of Thailand (BoT) to cut interest rates by a further 25bp to a new all-time low of 0.50% came as no surprise. With the policy rate now not much above zero, the …
Commercial banks left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) on hold today. But the dovish tone of the PBOC’s latest monetary policy report and growing pressure on the central bank to do more, including calls for QE, suggest that this is a pause in, rather than an end …
We think that Nigerian policymakers will have to allow the naira to weaken further in order to address mounting strains in the balance of payments. But hopes of a unified, flexible exchange rate regime will probably be dashed. Nigeria’s external position …
19th May 2020
Bank Indonesia’s (BI) decision to leave interest rates unchanged today at 4.5% is a big surprise given the slump in economic activity and the rebound in the rupiah. We think it will cut interest rates again soon. Having cut interest rates by 25bp in both …
In response to the rapidly worsening outlook for the economy, Pakistan’s central bank (SBP) today slashed its key policy rate by a further 100bp to 8.0%. With the economy in freefall and the authorities struggling to contain the spread of the virus, more …
15th May 2020
Canadian banks and households are in some respects better placed to deal with the side-effects of negative interest rates that their peers elsewhere have faced. But in contrast to the banking sectors of economies with negative rates, Canada’s is very …
Growth target and policy signals After a delay of over two months, the annual meeting of the China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), will kick off next Friday. A schedule has yet to be made public but the key events, the annual work …
The Central Bank of Egypt’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged today was not a major surprise given that efforts to prop up the pound have taken precedence over supporting the economy. If the IMF manages to persuade the central bank to loosen its …
14th May 2020
We think it is far more likely that the Bank of England will use further rounds of Quantitative Easing (QE) to boost demand rather than cut interest rates into negative territory as the market is suggesting. Over the past few days money markets in the UK …
The federal government’s spending measures are dwarfed by those in the US, and the Bank of Canada’s plans look underwhelming compared to those of the Federal Reserve. But the overall fiscal packages look similar once we incorporate likely provincial and …
13th May 2020
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) massively expanded its annual target for asset purchases at its meeting today and we still think the Bank will cut rates into negative territory before long. The Bank’s decision to keep rates on hold at 0.25% was …
Vietnam’s central bank (SBV) today cut its main policy rate by 50bp to 4.5%, and further rate cuts are likely given the poor economic outlook. Although life in the country appears to be slowly returning to normal after the lockdown came to an end late …
12th May 2020
The Fed has developed a habit of caving in the face of market pressure in recent years, but we still think the chances of it pushing the fed funds rate into negative territory are low. Fed officials have been united and consistent in arguing that the …
11th May 2020
