Inflation
BoJ mulls ‘more thorough’ communication
Minutes from December meeting reveal policy board members’ concern over market scepticism towards the BoJ’s path back to 2% inflation; suggest clarifying reaction function
Solomon Islands wins IMF support for ‘contractionary’ monetary policy
Central Bank of Solomon Islands maintains tight monetary policy in face of excess liquidity; IMF welcomes stance but tells authorities to implement a wider exchange rate band
Chinese labour costs set to play significant inflation role
Researchers suggest that increases in labour costs do not pass ‘fully’ through to prices in China; warn this could change on the back of ‘recent sizeable growth’ in nominal wages
Lifetime achievement award: Paul Volcker
Paul Volcker’s record of achievement in difficult circumstances continues to provide an inspiration to central bankers throughout the world
History likely to vindicate Fed's crisis policies, says Bernanke
The Federal Reserve has developed ‘all the tools needed' to manage monetary policy; costs of extraordinary measures exaggerated, Bernanke says
BoJ’s Shirai warns against rush for 2% inflation at all costs
Sayuri Shirai says it ‘may be appropriate’ to take longer than two years to meet the central bank’s inflation target of 2%; stresses the importance of achieving the goal in a ‘stable’ manner
Commodity price inflation caused by 'financialisation', RBI paper finds
Research also shows private liquidity is inflationary while official liquidity is not and and that derivative traders, active and passive, have played an important role in inflation dynamics
Philippines governor unperturbed by inflation surge
Amando Tetangco insists the inflation environment is ‘manageable’ despite annual CPI almost doubling in the past four months; central bank hits target for fifth consecutive year
Kuroda draws on lessons from Paul Volcker’s Fed tenure
Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda points to Paul Volcker’s success in lowering inflation expectations in the United States as proof of central banks' ability to influence markets
Central Bank of Venezuela to buy country's entire gold production
Central bank in joint bid with state oil company to ‘regularise' production, sales and purchases of the precious metal, which last year accounted for 70% of the bank's international reserves
Bank of Canada's Poloz says economic models 'better source of questions than answers'
Governor warns Canadian household imbalances could eventually result in 'sharp correction'; argues deflation still bigger concern than 'explosion in inflation' prompted by loose monetary policy
Bank of Thailand MPC insists rising inflation is ‘not immediate threat’
Minutes from November meeting show the committee voted to cut rates for the second time in six months despite one member’s concerns that inflation could continue to pick up in 2014
Lagarde calls for pre-emptive action on eurozone deflation
IMF managing director says the ECB should act to shore up eurozone inflation and find ways of getting credit to SMEs; Draghi says ECB must pursue price stability by all means necessary
New York Fed launches 'consumer expectations survey'
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will launch monthly survey on consumer expectations early next year; project anchors newly inaugurated microeconomic research centre
San Fran Fed letter highlights impact of oil prices on inflation expectations
Researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco say consumers update their inflation expectations using a ‘few simple rules of thumb’ – one of which is linked to the price of oil
Polish paper explains perceptions of higher inflation
Economists at the National Bank of Poland construct a consumer perceived price index that reflects the population’s loss aversion to price increases
Lithuania on track to join euro at second time of asking
The Bank of Lithuania has started publishing regular forecasts that keep track of the country’s progress towards meeting the convergence criteria necessary for accession to the eurozone
BSP to stay put on monetary policy following Haiyan
Philippines central bank is not expected to raise rates despite supply bottlenecks causing inflation spikes in the wake of typhoon Haiyan
Kuroda says Japan is on track to hit price target
Bank of Japan governor says the central bank’s QQE has brought about ‘positive developments’ that are spreading throughout financial markets and the real economy; sees inflation hitting 2% by 2015
OECD’s William White fears global economic system is still highly unstable
William White tells Christopher Jeffery he is wary of placing too much reliance on the ‘science’ of monetary or regulatory policy. He also believes the world economic system is still out of balance
Central Bank of Aruba 2012 annual report highlights drop in inflation
Average annual inflation in the Caribbean territory dropped from 4.4% in 2011 to 0.6% last year; says international reserves 'remained adequate'
UK data boost could spell early end to BoE forward guidance
Inflation report out today predicts consumer price inflation will reach 2% target sooner than predicted after sharp drop in October; revised forecast on unemployment may undermine forward guidance
Bundesbank research seeks to disentangle recession and depression
Discussion paper isolates unique features of depressions and booms to separate them out from recessions and expansions; results suggest recent ‘Great Recession’ was not a depression
ECB paper questions quantity theory of money in low-inflation countries
Researchers say evidence for the theory is 'just not there' in countries with low or moderate inflation, but becomes a ‘better fit' when correcting for variation in output growth