Japan Economics Weekly What can the Bank of Japan do? The yen has continued to strengthen, while the economic outlook seems to be weakening. But the Bank of Japan is probably not in a position to do much in response on either front at its meeting this... 9th August 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly What will the Bank of Korea do? The Bank of Korea (BoK) meets on Thursday and the question is whether its policy rate will be hiked for the second month in a row. Developments since the previous meeting have been broadly positive... 9th August 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Cautious ECB to maintain policy support The ECB maintained a cautious stance towards the economic outlook at August’s press conference, despite recent surprisingly positive news. With the pick-up in growth likely to prove temporary, policy... 5th August 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Czech Rep: rate hikes remain a distant prospect The Czech National Bank (CNB) today kept interest rates on hold at 0.75% for the second consecutive meeting. We are sticking to our view that rates will remain at record lows until 2012. 5th August 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Signs of slowdown keep rates on hold Today’s decision to leave interest rates on hold again presumably reflected growing signs that the recovery in the UK and global economies is running out of steam. With an enormous fiscal squeeze... 5th August 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Indonesia's rapid economic growth will be sustained Indonesia’s GDP growth accelerated to 6.2% y/y in Q2. We expect continued strong growth in coming quarters, led by domestic private sector demand. We maintain our forecast that monetary tightening... 5th August 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's monetary tightening is not over The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.5% today, as was universally anticipated. We expect the mining boom to bring above-trend GDP growth over the next few years and there is... 3rd August 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Australia’s cash rate still likely to rise later this year The Reserve Bank (RBA) meets on Tuesday and is almost certain to keep its policy rate on hold at 4.5%, given that Q2 consumer price data were softer than expected. Nonetheless, the mining boom will... 2nd August 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan makes the right move Pakistan’s central bank (SBP) today lifted its discount rate by 50bp to 13.0%. The move was a surprise but a rate hike has been the big risk for some time given double-digit inflation and the large... 30th July 2010 · 1 min read
ECB Watch A more positive tone, but tighter policy is distant The ECB’s decision to tighten future lending criteria and the fact that its bond purchases have ground to a near halt suggest that the Bank is again phasing out its unconventional policy support. The... 29th July 2010 · 1 min read
BoE Watch Stronger data unlikely to prompt rate hike There are still few signs that Andrew Sentance’s view that interest rates need to rise is gathering much support from the rest of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). In fact, the minutes of the last... 29th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Vietnam's muddled policy-making gets what is deserved The Fitch downgrade of Vietnam’s foreign currency debt, announced today, was no surprise. Over the last six months domestic policies have see-sawed between fighting inflation and boosting growth while... 29th July 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand's central bank likely to pause early The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) lifted its cash rate by 25bp to 3.0% overnight, as expected. Exports should remain a bright spot but domestic indicators have been softer than anticipated by the RBNZ and will... 29th July 2010 · 1 min read
