Monetary Policy Week in Review – 26 May 2012

By Central Bank News
The past week in monetary policy saw 9 central banks reviewing interest rate settings.  Three central banks reduced their monetary policy interest rates: Vietnam cut another -100 basis points to 12.00%, Denmark trimmed -10 basis points to 0.60%, and Georgia cut -25bps to 6.00%.  Meanwhile those that held interest rates unchanged were: Nigeria 12.00%, the Czech Republic 0.75%, South Africa 5.50%, Angola 10.25%, Latvia 3.50%, and Japan at 0.10%; the Bank of Japan also made no changes to its quantitative easing program (also sometimes referred to as an LSAP i.e. Large Scale Asset Purchase).

Looking at the central bank calendar, the week ahead sees the far east of Europe reviewing interest rates, with Israel up first, then Hungary and Turkey.  But most eyes will be on Brazil’s central bank, where the BRIC economy is expected to cut the Selic rate by 50 basis points to a low of 8.50%.  Elsewhere the Bank of Japan will release monetary policy meeting minutes.  On the economic front, the week ahead sees the release of some key monthly indicators like US nonfarm payrolls and the much watched purchasing managers index (PMI) readings.

Source: www.CentralBankNews.info

Article source: http://www.centralbanknews.info/2012/05/monetary-policy-week-in-review-26-may.html