Shifting towards rate hikes

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, including Korea and Colombia, are likely to follow suit relatively soon. But it’s not a widespread tightening cycle. Low inflation means that many central banks in Asia in particular are still a long way from hiking. And perhaps most notably, the People’s Bank of China, having removed stimulus since late last year, has signalled with a cut to the reserve requirement ratio that it is now focused on lowering financing costs for indebted firms.