Central bank mission creep

There have been several cases of central bank mission creep in recent months, with policy remits widening to cover areas other than consumer price inflation. The Bank of England is now helping to tackle climate change, the Bank of Japan is still trying to support banks’ profitability, the US Fed has adjusted its employment goal to put some emphasis on equality and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has been tasked with stabilising house prices. In this Global Central Bank Watch, we explain those changes and assess what the implications might be.