Central Bank Watch
Bank of England
March 22, 2018
The surprising element is the latest monetary policy review was not that the Bank Rate was left at 0.5% or that no change was made to the stock of bank holdings of gilts and corporate bond purchases. It is that the decision to leave the interest rate as is drew dissenting votes from McCafferty and […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
March 22, 2018
Filipino officials didn’t tighten their monetary stance at the latest review but left the door open to such a move in the future. The overnight reverse repo rate and lending rate have been at 3.0% and 4.0% for some time. In mid-2016, officials switched from a point target to a 3-4% target range. A released […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank Indonesia
March 22, 2018
Indonesia’s seven-day reverse repo rate was last changed in September 2017 when such was sliced 25 basis points to 4.25%. The March monthly review kept it there as well as retaining the deposit facility rate and lending facility rate at 3.5% and 5.0%, respectively. The repo rate was also reduced by 25 bps in June […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
March 22, 2018
At the end of the latest policy review, Taiwanese monetary officials retained a 1.375% discount rate. It’s been at that level since four consecutive cuts of 12.5 basis points from September 2015 through the meeting in June 2016. Taiwan continues to experience positive growth and stable, sub-2% inflation. The appropriateness of the present interest rate […] More
Central Bank Watch
Reserve Bank of New Zealand Cash Rate Remains 1.75%
March 22, 2018
Seven consecutive cuts in the Official Cash Rate between June 2015 and November 2016 halved such to 1.75%, and a statement following the latest policy review opines that the stance is likely to remain accommodative “for a considerable period” longer. Partly because of weather, economic growth last quarter was slower than expected, but central bank […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Trade War Fear Takes Center Stage
March 22, 2018
While Fed Chairman Jay Powell downplayed the risk to growth from trade restraints at least insofar as any influence on U.S. monetary policy is concerned, global financial markets are taking the danger of a trade war very seriously, particularly as President Trump seems poised to slap $50 billion of tariffs on imported Chinese goods. There’s […] More
