Monetary policy
Unconventional policy should be used rapidly – Fed paper
Researchers find 20–50% chance that US will face zero lower bound in next decade
RBI unexpectedly cuts rates as elections loom
Inflation lowest for 18 months, but cut will be welcome to Modi administration; governor refuses to answer political influence question
Low rates can harm productivity, say Liu, Mian and Sufi
Low rates may end up discouraging investment across the economy, authors say
ECB policy affects Eastern European economies – Bank of Italy paper
Researcher uses “shadow interest rate” methodology to measure monetary policy spillovers
A dual-currency system would make negative rates work – IMF research
Proposal would free monetary policy from lower zero bound when dealing with a recession
Central Banking Awards: governor and central bank of the year unveiled
Karnit Flug and the Monetary Authority of Singapore win accolades
Powell joins Trump for dinner at the White House
Fed puts out statement, as meeting follows regular criticism of the Fed’s interest rate path from the president
RBA governor does not rule out a rate cut in 2019
Uncertain international outlook has rebalanced policy options towards a looser approach
Governor of the year: Karnit Flug
The Bank of Israel’s first female governor delivered some hard-fought reforms during her time in office, and also stood up to the government and safeguarded macroeconomic stability
Central bank of the year: Monetary Authority of Singapore
Singapore’s central bank stands out for its pioneering fintech efforts combined with its consistency of performance in monetary policy, financial stability and supervision
Improved political environment lends support to Lebanese pound
As new government is formed, investors become more willing to sell dollars and buy pound
PBoC handed leading role in macro-prudential policy
Shake-up of PBoC’s governance structure sees central bank gain macro-prudential department
‘Global inflation gap’ points to slack across advanced economies – paper
Authors find no evidence that inflation is “on the brink of surging ahead”
Chilean central bank hikes rates
Rate rise comes despite US Fed holding rates on January 30
Kazakh president piles pressure on central bank to boost growth
Autocratic ruler berates ministers and central bank chief over banks and growth rates
Bank of Albania must resolve policy transmission issues – IMF
Issues with monetary policy transmission are obstructing efforts to hit inflation target
Bank of Ghana slashes further 100bp from policy rate
Action follows similar move in 2018, as inflation declines into the target range
Central bank gold purchases soar to highest level since 1971
Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan accumulated the most gold in 2018
Fed takes dovish stance as it clarifies long-run monetary policy
New statement seeks to clarify Fed’s balance sheet normalisation strategy
Riksbank open to reassessing normalisation if needed – af Jochnick
Sweden’s central bank increased rates in December 2018 for the first time since 2011
ECB to launch market expectations survey
Study aims to gather information on participants' views on future monetary policy evolution
Turkish central bank sees inflation outlook improving
Inflation undershot forecasts in latest period, having overshot them earlier in 2018
Bangladesh Bank eyes national savings imbalances
Growth is high and inflation “contained”, but high-yield products are draining deposits from banks
Central Banking Awards: third round goes live
Prizes unveiled for economics, website, risk management, professional services, data and more