Monetary Policy
Energy producers should lower interest rates following drop in oil prices, suggests Norges Bank paper
Given spillovers to rest of economy, optimal policy calls for a reduction in interest rates, finds study; central banks face ‘trade-off' between stabilising inflation and closing output gap
MAS makes surprise adjustment to currency policy
In an unscheduled policy statement the Monetary Authority of Singapore announces a reduction of the slope of the currency band after a review of inflation forecasts
Linde says ECB’s stimulus package is ‘ambitious’
Luis Linde, governor of the Bank of Spain, estimates the European Central Bank will buy €100 billion of Spanish government debt under its new asset purchase programme
Turkey’s central bank expects to break letter-writing cycle
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey forecasts inflation falling back to target from mid-2015, sparing it a fourth letter to the government in the space of five years
Belgian research examines policy response to oil price shocks
To curb the wealth-shifting effect of oil price shocks ‘optimal policy calls for a large but short-lived increase in the real interest rate’
State Bank of Pakistan slashes rates to decade low
Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra strikes upbeat note despite inflation falling significantly below target, as central bank cuts interest rates by 100 basis points
Leading central bankers unsure about impact of technology on monetary policy
Carney, Kuroda and Coeure debate the elusive Phillips curve in Davos; rejecting ‘technological pessimism', Carney says ‘just catching up is a huge opportunity of growth potential'
BoE's Forbes says few MPC members are 'perennial hawks or doves'
External member lays out key risks to Bank of England's central forecast, including stronger US growth, lower oil prices, and exchange rate pass-through
Eichengreen says central banks should worry more about deflation than 'profits and losses'
The Berkeley professor on what last week's SNB move says about big central banks 'wrong-footing' markets and the Fed's problematic response to financial crisis
Obstfeld warns emerging markets face dual trilemmas
BIS working paper dissects emerging markets’ ability to resist monetary policy spill-overs, finding the demands of monetary and financial trilemmas make self-defence difficult or impossible
Carney says eurozone QE 'absolutely necessary'
Bank of England governor says it will ‘create some of the necessary conditions’ for returning prosperity to the eurozone; discusses distributional consequences of monetary policy
ECB launches quantitative easing
Mario Draghi unveils additional asset purchase programme that will see the ECB buy sovereign and agency debt; a ‘large majority’ of governing council backed decision
BoE’s Miles: Monetary policy 'does not hold all the cards'
Monetary policy cannot be expected to achieve price stability 'in isolation from things fiscal’, argues David Miles, MPC member at the Bank of England
Danish central bank cuts rates for second time this week
National Bank of Denmark lowers deposit rate for second time in four days following ECB action; central bank will defend euro peg ‘vehemently', says analyst
New core inflation measure proposed in IMF paper
Measure proposed by researchers from IMF and Central Bank of Brazil takes into account both volatility and persistence, ensuring all relevant information is exploited
Lagarde: Divergent monetary policy could be a good thing
It could be 'helpful' for the global economy if the ECB eases more as the Fed starts tightening, Lagarde tells an audience in Davos; Summers warns eurozone QE not 'sufficient'
Canada cuts rate for ‘insurance’ against oil price drop
Stephen Poloz says the fall in oil prices in ‘unambiguously negative’ for the Canadian economy as central bank unveils first rate change in over four years
Great expectations: ECB set for QE showdown
Markets expect the ECB to announce a programme for buying €500 billion of sovereign bonds tomorrow, but the central bank retains the capacity to surprise
PBoC governor questions western central banks' ability to boost inflation
Speaking in Davos, Zhou Xiaochuan says 'monetary policy is not a panacea to reach targets', while Kenneth Rogoff says ECB QE will not be 'big enough'
Summers takes Germany to task over attitude towards debt
Speaking in London, former US treasury secretary says there is need to move beyond 'Calvinist idea' that debt is bad; questions impact of QE, macro-prudential policies
Eurozone banks report further easing in credit standards
The net percentage of banks reporting easier credit standards continues to grow; ECB survey finds banks’ participation in TLTROs is mostly driven by profitability
Dutch paper examines bank responses to wholesale funding shocks
Working paper published by The Netherlands Bank finds banks with large exposure to government bonds show ‘relatively stronger response’ to wholesale funding shocks
King says further easing unlikely to work
Former Bank of England governor warns monetary policy is reaching the limit of its ability to stimulate, with the global economy trapped in ‘quite serious disequilibria’
IMF: Central banks ‘must' ease if inflation expectations drop
Easing should be conducted through ‘other means' than interest rates if they are at ZLB, Fund argues in WEO update, which downgrades global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.5%