Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
Another surge in headline CPI inflation in December – most likely to a five-year high – would almost certainly bring an end to the RBI’s easing cycle. And a rise in core inflation over the coming quarters should prompt the central bank to switch to …
9th January 2020
Overview – The sales tax hike has not been as damaging as many had feared. But we remain more pessimistic about the outlook for global growth and domestic investment than most. That explains why we expect GDP to contract by 0.2% this year rather than …
8th January 2020
Hukou reform not a gamechanger for property The scrapping of restrictions on residency (hukou) in smaller cities announced last week might give a boost to property markets in some places but it will be small. With urbanisation slowing and population …
3rd January 2020
CBRT to shrug off higher inflation and cut interest rates this month The stronger-than-expected rise in Turkish inflation in December means that this month’s interest rate decision will be a close call. For now, we think that the central bank will cave …
Housing market going from strength to strength With bushfires still roaring across large parts of the country, the economic data are naturally taking a backseat. This week we learned that house price growth slowed from 1.9% m/m in November to 1.4% m/m in …
External demand recovering but construction cooling The manufacturing PMIs ended 2019 higher than where they started the year but we doubt this means the worst is over for China’s economy. While it does appear that export growth is bottoming out, downside …
2nd January 2020
The confirmation that Andrew Bailey will take over from Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England on 16 th March 2020 doesn’t change the outlook for monetary policy. But Bailey will face many challenges during his eight-year term, such as navigating …
20th December 2019
Bank of Korea minutes reveal dovishness Minutes from the Bank of Korea’s (BoK) November rate meeting reveal that while only one of the seven members of its Monetary Policy Board voted for a cut, other members also struck a dovish tone. The member who …
Consumption weathered tax hike well Assessing the impact of October’s sales tax hike has been complicated by the large number of consumption indicators, each telling a slightly different story. But the most reliable measure, released this week for …
This Update was originally sent to clients as a Rapid Response immediately after the announcement by the PBOC. The Loan Prime Rate (LPR), the reference point against which banks now price loans, held steady in December. The one-year LPR was unchanged at …
Vegetable price surge will keep RBI on sidelines RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das reiterated in a conference this week that, while the MPC unexpectedly kept rates on hold earlier this month, that didn’t necessarily signal the end of the loosening cycle. Mr …
Australia’s labour market broadly stable The minutes of the RBA’s December meeting noted that “it would be important to reassess the economic outlook in February 2020, when the Bank would prepare updated forecasts”. The Board noted that “it would be …
The last round of economic data released in 2019 pointed to a mixed performance in Latin America. Growth seems to have remained robust in Colombia in Q4 – and to have strengthened in Brazil – but activity faltered elsewhere. For the region as a whole, …
19th December 2019
The tone of December’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) statement and minutes was barely changed from November, indicating that the MPC is content to sit on its hands for the time being. As a result, we remain comfortable with our view that interest rates …
Growth in Emerging Asia has struggled over the past year. While most economies should stage a modest recovery over the coming quarters on the back of looser fiscal and monetary policy, with China likely to slow, aggregate growth in the region is set to …
The Bank of Japan didn’t surprise anyone by keeping interest rates unchanged today and we think it will remain on hold for the foreseeable future. The Bank’s decision to leave its short-term policy rate at -0.1% and its target for 10-year bond yields …
The final round of South African data released this year supported our view that the economy faltered in recent months. Output fell by 0.6% q/q saar in Q3, and the latest figures suggest that the economy may have entered another technical recession in Q4. …
18th December 2019
China’s apparent reluctance to commit to the extra $200bn of US imports relative to 2017 levels that the US is requesting over the next two years as part of the Phase One deal is understandable: achieving the target would require imports from the US to …
The Bank of Thailand (BoT) left its policy rate unchanged today, but further rate cuts are likely next year. Having cut interest rates twice this year already (in August and November) today’s decision to leave rates unchanged at 1.25% came as no surprise, …
The citizen amendment bill – which aims to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries – has dominated the news over the past couple of weeks. This isn’t primarily an economic or financial issue, but there are …
The People’s Bank has made another small downward adjustment to the rates it charges banks for short-run liquidity. We expect further cuts in the coming months, which will open the door to lower interbank rates and encourage banks to cut lending rates . …
Economic growth across the emerging world has slumped this year but, with the important exception of China, recoveries should take hold in 2020. Recent interest rate cuts will keep financial conditions accommodative. And governments will continue to …
17th December 2019
Overview – Although trade tensions and the presidential election remain key downside risks, we expect looser financial conditions to drive an acceleration in GDP growth from the second half of next year onwards. We forecast that GDP growth will be 1.9% in …
16th December 2019
Headline WPI inflation rebounds Headline wholesale price inflation rose for the first time in eight months in November. While not the preferred measure of inflation for India’s policymakers, this adds to the impression that the inflation backdrop is …
Impact of sales tax hike was probably worse than Bank had anticipated But external headwinds are fading and the labour market remains very tight The Bank is unlikely to cut interest rates any further The Bank of Japan seems to have underestimated the drag …
Australia’s government pledged to increase spending in today’s Budget update. And its pessimistic forecasts for nominal GDP growth suggest that tax revenue may continue to surprise on the upside, leaving scope for additional fiscal stimulus in the …
The Russian central bank governor’s post-meeting press conference was characteristically cautious, supporting our view that following today’s 25bp interest rate cut, there will probably be just one more 25bp reduction (to 6.00%) in the current easing …
13th December 2019
Indonesia considers relaxing fiscal rule Adopting a more flexible fiscal target would give Indonesia’s government more room to support growth during periods of weak demand without threatening the country’s fiscal position. Under the current fiscal rule, …
Vlieghe might join Saunders and Haskel in voting for a cut But the election result and prospect of a Brexit deal may mean the majority is content to wait Chances of a rate cut arguably higher in January If the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) wanted to cut …
The BoJ has great expectations for fiscal package Revised GDP data released this week show that the economy approached the sales tax hike on 1 st October with more momentum than initially thought as growth was revised up from 0.1% q/q to 0.4% q/q. (See …
While Ms Lagarde’s assessment of the outlook in today’s press conference was slightly less gloomy than Mr Draghi’s in October, this does not change our view that the ECB will loosen policy again during 2020. After all, policy would need to be eased even …
12th December 2019
The 200bp interest rate cut (to 12.0%) by the Turkish central bank as well as other recent tweaks to boost lending suggest that policymakers will try to meet President Erdogan’s demand to bring rates down to single digits and bolster growth. As a result, …
Today’s decision by the Swiss National Bank to leave its policy stance unchanged came as a surprise to nobody. Five years on since the Bank first cut interest rates into negative territory, there is every chance that it will keep them below zero over the …
The statement accompanying the Brazilian central bank’s meeting last night did leave the door open for one more interest rate cut, but on balance we think the easing cycle is at an end. By the same token, the interest rate hikes that are now being priced …
The Philippines (BSP) left its main policy rate at 4.00% today, but with growth likely to disappoint and inflation set to remain below the mid-point of the BSP’s target, we expect more easing next year. Today’s decision to leave the main policy rate on …
The Fed called time on its easing cycle today by leaving the fed funds target range unchanged at 1.50%-1.75% and striking a more upbeat tone in the policy statement. With economic growth stabilising and inflation set to remain subdued, we expect interest …
11th December 2019
Optimism about an imminent resolution to the trade war between the US and China and subsiding protests in Latin America have supported EM currencies over the past month. But, barring a few exceptions, we think that they will weaken against the US dollar …
After cutting rates by 150bps since April, the Central Bank of Iceland kept its deposit rate at its current record low of 3.00% today. We suspect that in the absence of a sharp and sustained fall in inflation expectations, the Bank will keep rates …
We think that GDP growth in both Australia and New Zealand will fall short of expectations, forcing both the RBNZ and the RBA to cut interest rates more sharply than most expect. The consensus is that both the Kiwi and the Aussie dollar will strengthen …
10th December 2019
There is little evidence that negative interest rates have succeeded in boosting economic growth or inflation expectations. But equally, they do not seem to have done much harm either – many of the criticisms levelled at them have been wide of the mark. …
9th December 2019
The continued weakness of core inflation that we expect in November’s consumer price data will probably give the MPC scope to ease policy again in the near term. But the big picture is that the inflation backdrop is set to turn more difficult over the …
RBI waiting for clarity on fiscal loosening The Reserve Bank’s unexpected decision to keep interest rates on hold yesterday was primarily driven by its concerns over the spike in headline inflation above the 4.0% target in October. (Our response to the …
6th December 2019
Household spending remains the Achilles heel The RBA kept interest rates unchanged at the meeting that occurred one day before the release of the Q3 GDP data and reiterated that the economy had reached a “gentle turning point”. At first glance, the …
The statement accompanying the Chilean central bank’s decision to hold interest rates at 1.75% yesterday signalled that policy rates will be left unchanged over Q1, but we still think it’s most likely that rates will be lowered over the next 12 months. We …
5th December 2019
The Reserve Bank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged for the first time this year, following five successive rate cuts. Nevertheless, the MPC has left the door open for further easing in the near term and a rate cut in February now looks likely. In …
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s decision to leave mortgage lending restrictions unchanged and tighten capital requirements means that lending and house prices are unlikely to surge in 2020. As such, concerns about financial stability won’t prevent the …
Looser financial conditions & improving economic data mean no further cuts needed Fed will not want to repeat the mistake of raising rates prematurely With inflation set to remain low, Fed is now on prolonged hold The Fed’s less dovish language, against a …
4th December 2019
Inflation jump won’t prevent rate cuts, for now The rise in Turkish inflation in November is likely to mark the start of a steady upward trend over the next couple of years. This won’t prevent the central bank from cutting interest rates further at the …
3rd December 2019
The RBA turned more optimistic when it kept rates unchanged today but we think that further stimulus will be required before long. We reiterate our long-held view that the Bank will cut rates to 0.25% next year and will launch quantitative easing in the …
The IMF has suggested that the Bank of Japan could target shorter bond yields in order to steepen the yield curve and support the profitability of financial institutions. But the benefits to insurance firms and pension funds wouldn’t compensate for the …
