Central Bank Watch
Turkish Interest Rate Lifted to 25%
August 24, 2023
The Central Bank of Turkey’s key interest rate was raised to 25.0% from 17.5%. This biggest move so far followed increases of 250 basis points in July and 650 bps in June and catapults the rate well beyond the prior peak of 19.0% for five months from March 2021 to August 2021. The size of […] More
Icelandic Central Bank Rate Hike
August 23, 2023
Policymakers at the Central Bank of Iceland delivered an unexpected 50-basis point additional hike in the 7-day term deposit rate to 9.25%. The cumulative 375 basis points of tightening this year follows a combined 400 bps of increase in 2022 and 125 basis points in 2021. The pandemic low of 0.75% prevailed from November 2020 […] More
People’s Bank of China Cuts One Loan Prime Rate but Not the Other
August 21, 2023
Policymakers at the Central Reserve Bank of China took a halfway approach to enhancing policy stimulus at the August fixing of the 1- and 5-year loan prime rates for corporate borrowing and house mortgages, respectively. It was expected that each rate would be cut further following 10-basis point reductions in each done two months ago. […] More
Russian Interest Rate Increase
August 15, 2023
The Russian ruble is also in today’s spotlight. One day after such fell to a 17-month low and amid accusations from a high advisor to President Putin blaming a loose monetary policy for the currency’s eroded value, the Central Bank of Russia held an emergency board meeting today and agreed to hike the benchmark interest […] More
Rate Hike in Thailand
August 2, 2023
In Thailand where inflation is currently also very low at 0.2% as of June, monetary officials today agreed unanimously to raise the central bank’s key interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.25%. The Bank of Thailand‘s rate had been lowered from 1.75% in August 2019 to 0.50% by May 2020 in increments of 25 […] More
Rate Cut at National Bank of Georgia
August 2, 2023
The National Bank of Georgia’s benchmark interest rate has been cut a second time. The drop of 25 basis points to 10.25% follows an initial 50-basis point reduction in May. The rate remains above the pandemic low of 8.0% and Georgian on-year CPI inflation, which at 0.6% in June was its lowest in 79 months […] More
Chilean Interest Rate Cut
July 31, 2023
Late Friday came news of a full percentage point reduction in the Central Bank of Chile‘s key interest rate to 10.25%. The rate had been lifted from 0.5% to 4.0% in 2021 and to a 24-year high of 11.25% in seven additional incremental policy tightenings by October 2022. Chilean CPI inflation of 7.6% last month […] More
BOJ Slightly Loosens Enforcement of Yield Curve Control
July 28, 2023
At this month’s scheduled Board meeting, Bank of Japan policymakers sent a mixed message, on the one hand stressing “the Bank needs to patiently continue with monetary easing under Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control” but also at last tweaking the rules surrounding its long-term interest rate target with the assertion […] More
Like the Fed’s Move, ECB’s 25-Basis Point Refinancing Rate Hike Matched Market Expectations
July 27, 2023
The deposit, refinancing and marginal lending facility rates of the European Central Bank were each lifted by 25 basis points to 3.75%, 4.25% and 4.50%, respectively, after today’s scheduled monetary policy review. There have been no pauses as yet since the tightening cycle began in July 2022, but the cumulative 425 basis point rise in […] More
FOMC Statement and Post-Meeting Press Conference
July 26, 2023
The FOMC as expected lifted the federal funds target range by 25 basis points to 5.25-5.50%. The vote behind this action was again unanimous. Eleven straight meetings resulting in a rate hike had been followed at the prior meeting by no change with the caveat that the cyclical peak would almost certainly be higher than […] More
