Bank of Japan Watch Easing bias in place for the foreseeable future The Bank of Japan’s Policy Board meets on Thursday and will almost certainly forecast that inflation will remain well below the new informal target of 1% until at least 2012. This does not necessarily... 26th October 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Swedish Riksbank hikes rates and signals more to come Despite the krona’s recent strength, the Swedish Riksbank raised interest rates for the third time in four months. Although further hikes are inevitable, we expect the pace of tightening to ease... 26th October 2010 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Is China changing course? The People’s Bank (PBC) delivered a jolt to global markets when it unexpectedly raised interest rates last week. Never mind that the small increase will have a negligible impact on China’s economy... 25th October 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Still battling to achieve fiscal stability Last week was characterised by fairly downbeat news on economic activity and ongoing struggles to achieve fiscal goals. Although the German business surveys remained positive, October’s fall in the... 25th October 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Why even Germany needs ECB support Some reporters have put recent hawkish remarks by Axel Weber, the Bundesbank’s ECB representative, down to the relative strength of the German economy. But even there, the economic outlook warrants... 21st October 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazilian interest rates on hold as currency concerns mount Last night, the Brazilian Central Bank held interest rates at 10.75% for the second consecutive month. Concerns about the strength of the real mean that rate hikes are off the agenda for the... 21st October 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response MPC Minutes (Oct.), M4 & Public Finances (Sep.) The minutes to October’s MPC meeting provided further evidence to suggest that the Committee is moving closer to recommencing quantitative easing, while September’s public finance figures cast further... 20th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thailand's monetary tightening still has further to go The Bank of Thailand (BoT) held its policy rate at 1.75% today but maintained a tightening bias. Domestic demand looks well placed to drive GDP growth, while the strong recovery should increasingly... 20th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Rates to remain on hold in Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) kept its policy rates on hold at today’s meeting, as expected. Inflation has ticked up in recent months but is unlikely to become a threat any time soon. For this... 19th October 2010 · 1 min read
US Economics Update More dovish Bank of Canada may yet ease again (Oct 10) The Bank of Canada appears some way from further monetary tightening. Economic conditions would have to improve substantially and by enough to offset the increasing downside risks to future inflation... 19th October 2010 · 1 min read
China Economics Update What is behind China's rate hike? With its surprise decision to raise benchmark interest rates, the People’s Bank of China is giving a strong signal to banks to rein in lending after the surge of the last few weeks. The immediate... 19th October 2010 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Sep.) The annual rate of decline in our Capital Economics' measure of M3 continues to slow. (See Chart below.) There is a good chance that the widely expected second round of quantitative easing from the... 19th October 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Learning to live with higher capital inflows Policymakers across the region are facing a tricky balancing act. On the one hand, capital inflows are likely to remain healthy over the coming months. Additional liquidity generated by further policy... 18th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia targets reform ahead of fiscal consolidation The budget plans for 2011 announced in Malaysia late last week aim to ensure that the economic upswing continues and showed once again that the top priority was the implementation of new measures to... 18th October 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey steps up its 'exit strategy' (Oct 10) It has been a long time coming, but policymakers in parts of the region are gearing up to begin tightening monetary policy. The Central Bank of Turkey accelerated its so-called ‘exit strategy’ from... 18th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Bank of Thailand will still probably tighten The Bank of Thailand (BoT) announces its policy rate decision on Wednesday. The repo rate has been hiked at the past two meetings, and we expect another 25bp increase to 2.0%. The surge in the baht... 18th October 2010 · 1 min read
