Australia & New Zealand Economics Update 2% won’t be the floor The cut in interest rates to a new record low of 2.00%, from 2.25%, announced by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today is unlikely to be the last in this cycle. Our forecast that both GDP growth... 5th May 2015 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Why the RRR is still an effective policy tool in China There appears to be a great deal of confusion around how cuts to the required reserve ratio (RRR) affect China’s economy, with some even suggesting that changes to the RRR have no impact on monetary... 4th May 2015 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Poloz singing from same old hymn book In his appearance before the House of Commons Finance Committee last week, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz reassured policymakers that the economy is showing signs of progress and that the... 4th May 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Should the BoJ introduce negative interest rates? Negative rates on central bank reserves could be one way to reduce bank lending rates further in Japan. This idea has received some attention in the media recently, but it does not appear to be under... 1st May 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly The RBA’s dilemma laid bare The Reserve Bank of Australia can’t have its cake and eat it. The only way to ensure that the Australian dollar weakens, which would support the real economy, is to reduce interest rates further, but... 1st May 2015 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Recovery falters The recovery that was seemingly underway in most parts of Latin America towards the end of last year appears to have faltered in recent months. Indeed, our proprietary GDP Tracker suggests that the... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Monetary conditions still ultra-loose Global monetary conditions remain highly accommodative as the world’s major central banks have kept policy rates close to zero and some have continued with large scale asset purchases. Conditions in... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly How fragile is Malaysia? Given that Malaysia is Emerging Asia’s largest net energy exporter it is no surprise that the ringgit has been the region’s worst performing currency over the last nine months. Now that oil prices... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update New Zealand - RBNZ edging closer to cutting rates Although the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) once again left interest rates unchanged today, theshift from a neutral policy bias to an implicit loosening bias supports our view that interest rates... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Central Bank of Egypt shifts attention back on to inflation Interest rate decisions by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) are notoriously difficult to predict but it seems that, having been distracted by balance of payments concerns over the past few years... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Bank of Japan will have to ease more before long The Bank of Japan today decided to leave policy settings unchanged, thus ignoring signs that its efforts to lift inflation towards the 2% target are stalling. However, we think that the threat of... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil hike rates; all eyes now on the real Calling turning points is always tricky but, assuming that the real remains stable over the coming months, we think that last night’s 50bp increase in Brazilian interest rates to 13.25% could be the... 30th April 2015 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Swedish Riksbank increases stimulus to battle deflation Sweden’s Riksbank stepped up its fight against deflation by more than doubling the size of its government bond purchase programme and reiterating its willingness to make monetary policy even more... 29th April 2015 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed acknowledges first-quarter slowdown The latest FOMC statement released today suggests that Fed officials still believe economic growth and inflation will rebound. But until they see evidence of such a rebound, which could take another... 29th April 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Slow out of the blocks Emerging Asia has made a weak start to the year. The headlines have been grabbed by China's slowdown but, a few positive signs from India aside, there has been little cause for cheer around the rest... 29th April 2015 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Swedish Riksbank increases stimulus to battle deflation Sweden’s Riksbank stepped up its fight against deflation by more than doubling the size of its government bond purchase programme and reiterating its willingness to make monetary policy even more... 29th April 2015 · 1 min read
