At the other two emergency meetings where rates weren’t cut – one meeting by Sweden’s Riksbank and another by the European Central Bank (ECB) – other monetary easing measures were decided, including the ECB’s new 750 billion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) and the Riksbank’s increase of its bond purchases by up to 300 billion krona.
Five central banks that were scheduled to decide monetary policy this week, for example, already lowered their rates last week, a week that will go down in history as one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of monetary and economic policy.
The week started off with a bang on Sunday, March 15 when the Fed cut its rate to effectively zero at its second consecutive unscheduled rate cut in less than three weeks.
The Fed’s move was followed up with rate cuts by 44 other central banks during the following six days, with 30 of those cuts decided at emergency policy meetings.
Five of the 13 central banks that were scheduled to decide monetary policy this week already lowered their rates last week.
Of these five banks, Banco de Mexico communicated it had moved forward its policy meetings scheduled for this week while the Bank of England made clear it would be holding another monetary policy meeting this week.
Paraguay’s central bank pulled forward its policy meeting scheduled for this week (March 23) to March 13, when it cut its rate for the first time this year. But it then proceeded to hold an extraordinary meeting three days later on March 16, when it cut its rate once again.
It was not immediately clear from the other three banks that were among last week’s rate cutters – the Czech National Bank, the Bank of Thailand, and the Reserve Bank of Fiji – whether they would hold monetary policy meetings for the second week in a row.
This week – August 10 through August 15 – central banks from 11 countries or jurisdictions are scheduled to decide on monetary policy: Kenya, Hungary, Nigeria, Thailand, Albania, Fiji, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Angola, Colombia and Jamaica.
The table is updated when the latest decisions are announced and can always accessed by clicking on This Week.
| WEEK 13 | ||||||
| MAR 22 – MAR 28, 2020: | ||||||
| KENYA | 23-Mar | 8.25% | -100 | -150 | 9.00% | FM |
| HUNGARY | 24-Mar | 0.90% | 0 | 0 | 0.90% | EM |
| NIGERIA | 24-Mar | 13.50% | 0 | 0 | 13.50% | FM |
| THAILAND | 25-Mar | 0.75% | -25 | -50 | 1.75% | EM |
| ALBANIA | 25-Mar | 1.00% | 0 | 0 | 1.00% | |
| FIJI | 26-Mar | 0.25% | -25 | -25 | 0.50% | |
| CZECH REP. | 26-Mar | 1.75% | -50 | -25 | 1.75% | EM |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 26-Mar | 0.10% | -15 | -65 | 0.75% | DM |
| ANGOLA | 27-Mar | 15.50% | 0 | 0 | 15.75% | |
| COLOMBIA | 27-Mar | 4.25% | 0 | 0 | 4.25% | EM |
| JAMAICA | 27-Mar | 0.50% | 0 | 0 | 1.25% | |