UK Data Response MPC Minutes (Apr.) & Labour Data (Feb./Mar.) The minutes of April’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showed that the Committee is still unlikely to alter policy in the near future. Meanwhile, despite the headline-grabbing drop in claimant... 21st April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia policy tightening to become restrictive in 2011 The minutes for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) April meeting, released today, have underlined yet again that the outlook for the economy is very good. The cash rate is virtually certain to move... 20th April 2010 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update Bank of Canada signals imminent rate hike The Bank of Canada (BoC) this morning signalled clearly that it will begin hiking its key overnight interest rate at the next policy meeting in early June. We expect that rate to climb from 0.25% now... 20th April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update India’s Reserve Bank still has much to do India raised its two policy interest rates by 25bp earlier today, which was in line with the consensus view but was less than our forecast of a 50bp hike. Nevertheless, we continue to believe that the... 20th April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Thailand will probably reach a compromise soon The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is virtually certain to leave the repo rate unchanged at 1.25% at its monetary policy meeting on Thursday. Economic conditions probably warrant a move up in the policy rate... 19th April 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil set to begin tightening monetary policy Interest rate hikes in the region are imminent. We think that a 50bps hike in Brazil this month is almost a done deal, with Peru is likely to follow suit in June. Meanwhile Colombia, and now Chile... 16th April 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Changes at the top do not change outlook for policy (Apr 10) Both Poland and the Czech Republic are set to announce new Central Bank governors over the coming months. But we suspect this will do little to alter the policy bias in either country. Poland will be... 15th April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update India is virtually certain to tighten again next week Wholesale price data released today in India were not as bad as widely expected. Nevertheless, the only uncertainty ahead of the 20th April monetary review meeting is whether policy rates move up by... 15th April 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Central Bank of Turkey sets out its exit strategy Earlier today the Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT) outlined its exit strategy from the additional liquidity measures it introduced during the economic crisis. These include plans to switch to a new... 14th April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore set to tighten policy The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) meets on Wednesday and, we forecast, will shift to an appreciation bias on the SGD nominal effective exchange rate. Q1 GDP growth was almost certainly very... 12th April 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Bank of Korea Governor in no hurry to hike The Bank of Korea (BoK) left its policy rate at 2.00% today, as expected. New BoK Governor Kim is sympathetic to the government view that monetary tightening can be delayed, while imminent elections... 9th April 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Downbeat ECB to maintain strong policy support While President Trichet sought to reassure markets today that aid would be provided for Greece if necessary, his call for aggressive fiscal tightening there and elsewhere underlined the prospect of... 8th April 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update MPC waits for news on fiscal squeeze Estimates of the financial cost to the UK airline industry of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland are mounting. But we doubt that the economic cost of the eruption will have a... 8th April 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Bank of Japan rightly more positive on economy The Bank of Japan tweaked its qualitative assessment of the economy today, changing a few words here and there to suggest a more positive outlook. However, we will have to wait until the latest... 7th April 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Can Germany save the euro-zone? Increased domestic spending in Germany would not only assist the euro-zone’s troubled periphery but would also be in Germany’s own interests, helping to reduce unemployment. However, while there are... 7th April 2010 · 1 min read
