Asia Economics Update Reserve Bank of India cuts repo rate, prioritising growth The Reserve Bank of India cut its key policy rate by 50bp today in response to slower growth and a fall in underlying inflation. We suspect it will deliver a further 50bp of rate cuts by year-end as... 17th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Consumer Prices (Mar.) The recent downward trend in inflation came to a halt in March, but this should be only temporary. We still expect inflation to fall below its target later this year. 17th April 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook Crisis unsolved as growth outlook darkens Hopes that the crisis in the euro-zone had been solved by Greece’s debt restructuring and the ECB’s recent liquidity injections have faded. Despite some signs of resilience in Germany, the economic... 16th April 2012 · 1 min read
US Data Response Consumer Prices (Mar.) Despite the 0.3% m/m increase in consumer prices in March, favourable base effects still pushed the annual rate of CPI inflation down to a 12-month low of 2.7%, from 2.9%. The rate should fall to... 13th April 2012 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Core inflation weakens in Eastern Europe Headline inflation remains above-target in most of Emerging Europe. But inflation fell in several countries last month while core price pressures are subdued everywhere apart from Turkey. 13th April 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Saudi Arabia Consumer Prices (Mar.) Saudi Arabia’s headline inflation remained unchanged in March as a rise in food inflation was offset by a drop in housing (rent and utilities) inflation. 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Egypt Consumer Prices (Mar.) Egypt’s headline inflation dropped slightly in March as a fall in food inflation helped to offset a record rise in housing and utilities inflation. The latter contributed to a jump in core inflation... 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
Global Economics Focus What are Argentina's lessons for the euro-zone? Argentina’s experience after the collapse of the peso ten years ago supports the view that Greece, and perhaps other peripheral economies, would ultimately be better off leaving the euro-zone rather... 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update More easing coming, but will it work? The focus has quickly shifted to the second April meeting of the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board after the widely anticipated decision not to announce any further easing measures today. The publication... 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
China Data Response Foreign Trade & CPI (Mar.) March’s trade figures from China paint a picture of slow but steady growth in global demand alongside further weakening at home. 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia’s costly fuel subsidies to remain in place The recent increase in oil prices is putting the budgets of countries that operate fuel subsidy regimes under strain. Nevertheless, any meaningful reform of subsidy programmes across Asia looks... 9th April 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Chilean economy not yet out of the woods As the most open and commodity-dependent of the major Latin American economies, Chile benefited from an improvement in global conditions in Q1. The road ahead will not be a smooth one however and, if... 5th April 2012 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Evaluating Hungary’s Early FX Repayment Scheme The introduction of Hungary’s early FX mortgage repayment scheme last September was one in a chain of events that severely dented market confidence in local policymaking and sent the economy to the... 5th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update More QE in May still in the balance Today’s decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to stay the course and complete the previously authorised asset purchases was always likely, given the pattern of past QE decisions. While the... 5th April 2012 · 1 min read
Bank of Japan Watch Further easing coming, just not yet The Bank of Japan’s Policy Board two-day meeting, which concludes on Tuesday (10th), has been made more interesting by two recent developments: the disappointingly weak Tankan survey and another spike... 4th April 2012 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Inflation Monitor (Mar.) Consumer price inflation may have edged up in March, but this would still largely reflect volatility around Chinese New Year. The recent increase in gasoline prices should have little impact on the... 4th April 2012 · 1 min read
