Frequently Used Abbreviations
May 1, 2008
Economic writing often uses abbreviations for frequently used words, phrases, or concepts. Some are very intuitive and/or part of general English usage like the months of the year (for example, Feb instead of February). Others may need a glossary of explanations. I’ve compiled a list below. Although not exhaustive, it is a start.
m/m: Percent change from one month to the next month
q/q: Percent change from one calendar quarter to the next calendar quarter
y/y: Percent change from same period one year earlier
CY: Calendar year
FY: Fiscal year
1Q08 or 1H08: First quarter of 2008 or first half of 2008
saar: Annualized percentage change between two periods
SA or sa: Seasonally adjusted
NSA or nsa: Not seasonally adjusted
ppts: Percentage points
G7: Group of Seven consisting of the United States, Japan, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Italy. G8 adds Russia.
Euroland: Countries that use the euro, a.k.a. Euro area, Euro zone or Ezone
G3: United States, Japan, and Euroland
bln: Billions, also sometimes abbreviated to bn
mln: Millions
tln: Trillions
data: Economic figures, statistics, numbers, scores, or readings
Fed: Federal Reserve Bank. The Board is in Washington. FRBNY is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
ECB: European Central Bank
BOJ: Bank of Japan
Tankan: A quarterly business survey done by the Bank of Japan
RBA: Reserve Bank of Australia
RBNZ: Reserve Bank of New Zealand
BOC: Bank of Canada
BOE: Bank of England
Riksbank: Sweden’s Central Bank
Norges Bank: Norway’s Central Bank
BOK: Bank of Korea
PBOC: People’s Bank of China, which is the central bank
OECD: Organization of Economic and Co-operative Development
IMF: International Monetary Fund
EUR: Euro, Europe’s common currency
Kiwi: New Zealand dollar
Loonie: Canadian dollar, a.k.a. C-dollar or CAD or C$
AUD: Australian dollar, a.k.a. A$, Aussie dollar, the Aussie or A-dollar
Chf: Swiss franc or Swissy
Gbp: British pound or sterling or pound
USD: U.S. dollar, a.k.a. the buck or greenback
PMI: Purchasing managers survey index
Mf’g: Manufacturing
CNY: Chinese yuan or renminbi per U.S. dollar
NBER: National Bureau of Economic Research
Gov: Governor, i.e. top official at several central banks (e.g., BOE and BOJ)
Pres: President
VP: Vice President
Treas Sec’y: Treasury Secretary
FM: Finance Minister, a.k.a. Fin Min
Fgn: Foreign
Dems and Reps: Democrats and Republicans in U.S. politics
LDP: Liberal Democrats, ruling party of Japan
DPJ: Opposition Democratic Party of Japan
Bps: basis points, 1/100th of a percentage point, also written bp
Pips: 1/100th of change in a dollar exchange rate. $1.5710 is 10 pips higher than $1.5700
MCI: Monetary conditions, which are affected when exchange rate or money interest rate changes
CPI: Consumer price index. PPI is producer price index.
GDP: Gross domestic product. “Growth” refers to changes in GDP unless qualified by another term, like money growth.
Bonds: are called bunds in Germany, Gilts in Britain, JGB’s in Japan and Treasuries in the United States.
Stock market indices: DJIA- U.S. Dow Jones Industrials, Dax- Germany, Nikkei- Japan, Ftse of Footsie- Britain, TSE- Canada, Cac40- France and CSI-300 China.
Further note that it is common to personalize central banks. So when one reads the ECB raised its benchmark refinancing rate by 25 bps to 4.25%, what is really meant is that officials or policymakers at the the European Central Bank lifted rates. When officials reduce rates, they are said to ease or loosen policy, and when rates increase, we say that policy has been snugged or tightened. To say that policy has become more accommodative has the same meaning as policy is looser. A less accommodative policy means policy is becoming tighter. A neutral monetary stance is one that neither promotes nor restrains economic growth. A restrictive stance depresses growth, while an accommodative stance is designed to accelerate economic growth. Core inflation excludes food and energy. Headline inflation counts all prices. In Japan only, core inflation excludes food but not energy. Japan’s core-core inflation rate excludes both food and energy. Foreign exchange and currency are used synonymously. Currencies are traded in the foreign exchange market.
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