Consumer price index (CPI)
Higher inflation in the US pushes up yields
The headline consumer price index rose by 2.1% year on year
UK inflation refuses to budge from 3%
Despite a decline in oil price pressure, UK inflation remains above target; latest figures increase the likelihood of the Bank of England raising rates in May
Bank Negara makes first rate hike since 2014
Bank Negara Malaysia is the first South-east Asian central bank to hike rates this year
Bank Indonesia launches joint initiative as rice prices bite
Indonesian central bank and government announce joint measures to control inflation arising from food price volatility
Lower inflation brings relief for Argentina’s central bank
Central bank leaves interest rates on hold at 28.75%, as year-on-year inflation lowers to 22.5%
RBA cuts forecasts as inflation disappoints
The Reserve Bank of Australia expects to undershoot its inflation target for another year
Korea suffering from ‘missing inflation’ – deputy governor
Core inflation is still in the mid-1% range despite economic improvement
Swedish inflation above target, but tightening unlikely
The Scandinavian economy recorded a 4% year-on-year expansion in the second quarter of 2017, but a strong krona and the ECB’s loose policy stance make an immediate rate rise difficult
Brexit drives a wedge between BoE and markets
Market expectations of future UK interest rates appear out of line with views expressed by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. It comes at a time when Brexit ‘news’ often trumps economic data
Book notes: Fed Up, by Danielle diMartino Booth
A “fascinating but annoying” account by a US Federal Reserve insider who openly criticises the culture of the US central bank and policy decisions made by the institution leading up to and following the financial crisis
Riksbank proposes changes to inflation target
Central bank plans to use a variable that avoids short-term distortions, and to reinstate a band around the target
Forecasting would improve with more regular data, says RBNZ’s McDermott
New Zealand is one of two advanced economies that uses quarterly data instead of monthly; current schedule has limited forecast improvements, RBNZ assistant governor says
Peru cuts rates for first time in more than two years
Reversal in food prices prompts board into action, with inflation now expected to end the year within target band; central bank will remain attentive to external conditions
Should more attention be paid to house prices?
The Czech National Bank’s experiences offer insights into using a broader inflation measure with a greater weight on housing to address both monetary and macro-prudential policy requirements
Riksbank deputy open to scrapping CPI as target variable
Quirks of Swedish CPI make it awkward for use as the monetary policy target variable, Per Jansson says; bringing back tolerance band also a possibility
BoE paper extracts inflation expectations from market rates
Market rates are an imperfect measure of expected future inflation, say economists, who break them down into constituent parts, stripping out risk premia and the ‘wedge’ between RPI and CPI
CPI not ideal for comparing inflation rates, research finds
Economist at Sveriges Riksbank says CPI is a good measure of inflation but is ‘not well suited’ to making international comparisons of inflation rates
G-20 inflation measure paves way for co-ordinating policy
New statistic aims to fill ‘data gap' identified in wake of the global financial crisis; follows growing calls for globally coordinated monetary policy as countries fret over effects of QE
Bullard says US government should scrap CPI inflation targeting
The St Louis Fed president believes switching to the Fed's PCE measure would provide clarity to the public about which measure more accurately reflects consumer price inflation
UK statistics office to keep 'unsuitable' inflation measure
The UK Office for National Statistics will not change how it calculates RPI inflation – but will initiate an alternative index in parallel
Keeping sight of the real inflation target
The appropriate construction of CPI indexes is vital to maintain public confidence in inflation targets. Jill Leyland points out issues in current index construction
Some CPI indexes inappropriate for inflation targeting, says Leyland
Royal Statistical Society vice-president Jill Leyland assesses difficulties in constructing accurate inflation indexes; says consumer price indexes will “never be far from controversy”
Bank of Canada estimates measurement bias in CPI
Article assesses degree of bias in the consumer prices index; suggests more frequent updating of goods basket would allow for more accurate measurement
UK inflation figures show surprise rise in July
Office for National Statistics surprises markets by announcing CPI inflation rose to 2.6% in July; Bank of England last week predicted the rate would continue to fall this year