Monetary policy
Powell meets Trump in the White House again
Fed makes one notable change to its statement, compared with February’s communication
RBA considered cut at latest meeting – minutes
Case was made for monetary easing, but board opted to wait for data on previous cuts before launching further policy action
Argentina’s currency controls help stabilise peso and reserves
Uncertainty about the fiscal policies of the incoming president is contributing to falling bond prices
Crypto assets may force central banks into policy synchronisation
Paper examines the impact a global crypto asset would have on the “impossible trinity”
The challenges facing Christine Lagarde
The new ECB president will need to focus on a successful review of the ECB’s monetary and communications policy, while encouraging fiscal stimulus and structural reform
Poloz: AI revolution calls for looser policy
Central banks can take lessons from Greenspan’s policy during IT revolution, governor says
Dutch governor warns of unconventional policy hazards
Knot also argues for expansionary fiscal policy and symmetrical inflation target
Bank of Mexico implements third rate cut of easing cycle
Divided board decides to lower key rate by 25bp to 7.5%; two board members voted for a 50bp cut
Egypt slashes rates by further 100bp
Sharp drop in inflation prompts easing by monetary policy committee
Dominican Republic faces monetary policy trade-off – IMF paper
Researchers say financial system is healthy, but central bank faces hard choices over policy
De Guindos says ECB ‘implicitly has symmetrical targeting policy’
ECB vice-president backs Macron plan for common eurozone fiscal policy
Powell says Fed is increasing work on climate change risk
“Climate change is an important issue, but not principally for the Fed,” Powell says
Italian banks exploit ECB tiering to sharply boost local deposits
Rush to exploit arbitrage opportunity is “interesting showcase” of fragmented markets, says Benoît Cœuré; giving non-banks access to liquidity could help
Cash delay worsens Zimbabwe’s economic woes
Distribution delays add to shortage of notes, with the value of cash rapidly eroding
Research proposes ‘Monk’ model of long-term monetary transmission
Equilibrium in standard models only affected by short rates, say Garriga, Kydland and Šustek
Fed ramping up climate change research efforts – Lael Brainard
Climate change could impact neutral rate, governor says; Fed can’t afford to ignore the issue, San Fran Fed’s Mary Daly adds
People: Riksbank appoints new executive board member
Swedish central bank promotes Cecilia Skingsley to first deputy governor; FCA appoints three new board members; Nigerian president appoints former deputy governor as special adviser
New IMF chief maintains focus on unsustainable debt levels
Debt levels at all-time high and well over twice global GDP, Kristalina Georgieva warns
ECB’s Löber: Facebook’s libra a “black hole” of legal certainty
But current global standards fit for purpose to underpin digital assets
Carney says BoE is ready to cut rates as MPC votes to hold
Two dissenters vote for rate cut as BoE cuts UK growth forecasts on back of new Brexit deal
IMF paper looks at Moroccan monetary policy
Findings show balance sheet has significant impact, especially via smaller firms – researchers
Uncertainty is lessening monetary policy effectiveness, Fed president says
Policy-makers at risk of not getting same “bang for the buck”, Tom Barkin says
Bank of Thailand cuts interest rate to record low
Bank of Thailand cuts rate to all-time low and relaxes forex rules
What is behind China’s digital currency aspirations?
The PBoC sees CBDC as a means of riding the wave of digitisation, and potentially challenging the US dollar’s dominance, writes Hui Feng