Victor Mendez-Barreira

Dec 21, 2023 | centralbanking.com | Daniel Hinge |Christopher Jeffery |Dan Hardie |Victor Mendez-Barreira

Tweet Facebook LinkedIn Save this article Send to Print this page Just in time for Christmas, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell brought festive cheer to investors – and likely a few central bankers – with hints that the Fed may be ready to contemplate monetary easing in mid-2024. It was the signal markets had been waiting for, after a year of ups and down in the data and zigzags from exuberance to despair and back.

Dec 15, 2023 | centralbanking.com | Victor Mendez-Barreira

The Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) reduced interest rates by 50 basis points for the fourth consecutive time at its monetary policy meeting on December 13. The monetary policy committee voted unanimously to cut the key Selic rate to 11.75%. It said it unanimously expects further rate cuts of the same magnitude in future meetings, despite warning over domestic and international inflationary pressures. The BCB started reducing interest rates in August, when rates stood at 13.75%. The MPC’s policy

Dec 14, 2023 | centralbanking.com | Victor Mendez-Barreira

The European Central Bank (ECB) maintained interest rates unchanged after its monetary policy meeting today (December 14). This is the second consecutive meeting in which the ECB has kept rates at current levels, following 10 rate increases in a row from July 2022 until September 2023. Thus, the deposit rate stays at 4%. The policy statement explains: “While inflation has dropped in recent months, it is likely to pick up again temporarily in the near term.”Eurozone inflation has declined abruptly

Dec 13, 2023 | centralbanking.com | Victor Mendez-Barreira

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) maintained interest rates unchanged after its monetary policy meeting today (December 14). However, it lowered inflation expectations and toned down the need to carry out FX interventions to support the franc’s exchange rate. Most analysts read the policy statement as a dovish turn that opens the door to a rate cut in the first half of 2024. After today’s decision the key policy rate remains at 1.75%. The SNB also maintained that it will remunerate banks’ deposits at

Dec 13, 2023 | centralbanking.com | Christopher Jeffery |Daniel Hinge |Dan Hardie |Victor Mendez-Barreira

Prior to Covid-19, the situation in Ghana looked bright. The central bank was successfully pursuing a single-digit inflation target, the currency was stable and much of the financial system had been reformed and recapitalised. With hindsight, were there any steps prior to Covid that you would do differently, if you had the opportunity? On hindsight, I would say we took the requisite prudent policy measures to stabilise the economy as well as the financial sector before Covid struck. At the time