Global Central Bank Watch Fed still going it (almost) alone We think the Fed is likely to raise interest rates three more times by the middle of next year. By 2020, however, we suspect that Fed officials will reverse course and cut interest rates in response... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update First thoughts on Argentina’s revised IMF deal The larger-than-expected increase in the size of Argentina’s revamped IMF credit line reduces debt rollover risks and is likely to lead to a rally in local markets when they open later today. The... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Gulf to enter EMBI, another Egyptian dollar debt sale? JP Morgan’s announcement that it will include five GCC economies in its EMBI dollar bond indices should provide a further fillip to foreign investment in the region’s financial markets. Even so, we... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Taiwan’s central bank in no rush to raise rates Taiwan’s central bank (CBC) decided to keep its policy rate on hold today at 1.375% against a backdrop of strong economic growth and low inflationary pressures. The fairly dovish tone of the CBC’s... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update More rate hikes likely in the Philippines Today’s 50bp rate hike in the Philippines comes in response to a further rise in inflation and is unlikely to be the last in the current cycle. We are expecting rates to rise by at least a further... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Growth stumbles, policymakers turn hawkish Figures released over the past month showed that the South African and Angolan economies both contracted in the first half of the year, with South Africa entering a technical recession in Q2... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Further rate hikes likely in Indonesia Today’s 25 basis point rate hike by Bank Indonesia is unlikely to be the last in the current cycle. With the rupiah set to remain under downward pressure over the coming months, we expect at least two... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
RBI Watch Policy rates set to be hiked again Ever since starting its rate-hiking cycle in June, the RBI made clear that the future path of monetary policy will be determined by incoming data. With GDP growth surging to a two-year high in Q2 and... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - RBNZ keeps the faith in optimistic forecasts The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept the faith in its relatively optimistic forecasts for the economy while leaving interest rates at 1.75% for the 22 nd month today, but you could argue that the... 27th September 2018 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed pressing ahead with rate hikes The Fed stuck to the script today, pushing ahead with another rate hike and signalling through the accompanying statement and economic projections that it will raise interest rates four times between... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Aug.) A combination of the Fed’s balance sheet rundown and rising interest rates have pushed narrow money growth down to an eight-year low, but growth in the broader money and credit aggregates have held up... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Brighter times ought to lie ahead for the yen The Japanese yen is the only “major” currency to have fared worse than the US dollar since the middle of August. Nonetheless, we think that its fortunes will improve against the greenback. Our... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
Canada Economic Outlook Economy vulnerable to rate hikes Economic growth looks set to remain healthy in the near term, which will prompt the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates twice more. But the Bank is underestimating both the extent to which... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Slovakia: Fiscal policy needs to tighten The ECB’s loose monetary stance isn’t compatible with Slovakia’s advanced stage of the business cycle and it looks like the government will respond by tightening fiscal policy to prevent the economy... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Chart Pack A good year for growth The surprising strength of economic growth in the second quarter has led us to revise up our forecasts for GDP growth in the 2018 calendar year from 2.5% to 3.2% for Australia and from 2.5% to 2.7%... 26th September 2018 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update Nigeria: MPC shifts tone (again) Nigerian policymakers struck a hawkish tone today, but we doubt that rate hikes are on the cards. Inflationary pressures are probably not as worrying as Governor Emefiele seems to believe. Kenyan... 25th September 2018 · 1 min read