British inflation is broadly declining in line with the Bank of England's forecasts, and next month's numbers look on track for a sharp drop towards the central bank's 2% target, Governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday. "We're actually pretty much on track for where we thought we would be," Bailey said at an event in Washington hosted by the Institute of International Finance. "I expect that next month's number will show quite a strong drop," he added. Official figures earlier on Wednesday showed annual consumer price inflation fell to 3.2% in March from 3.4% in February, a slightly...
Australia's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged on Tuesday as the board assesses the economic impact of its more than yearlong tightening cycle, while leaving the door open to future hikes. The Reserve Bank held its cash rate at 4.1%, its second pause of the year, in a decision predicted by 19 of 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The move will allow the board more time to reflect on the state of the economy, as well as the outlook and associated risks. "Some further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable...
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said that a weak pace of underlying inflation is reason enough for monetary policy to stay ultra loose even as the rest of the world tightens aggressively. Speaking alongside counterparts from the US, the euro zone and the UK, the recently appointed central bank chief didn't signal an imminent change in approach as the economy there contends with a problem long seen to have dissipated elsewhere. "Although the headline rate of inflation is about 3% -- which is well above the 2% inflation target -- we think underlying inflation is...
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said last week's rise in interest rates reflected a resilient economy and unexpectedly persistent inflation, sticking closely to his message after the BoE raised rates to 5% from 4.5%. "The cumulative data - both particularly on the labour market and on the inflation release we had, which to us showed clear signs of persistence - caused us to conclude that we had to make really quite a strong move," Bailey said at a European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal. Bailey added that in his view the unexpected half-point rate rise was preferable to two...
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that policymakers expect to raise interest rates further this year to curb persistent price pressures and cool a surprisingly resilient US labor market. "Although policy is restrictive it may not be restrictive enough and it has not been restrictive for long enough," Powell said Wednesday during a panel hosted by the European Central Bank for a forum in Sintra, Portugal. Powell said he wouldn't rule out raising rates at consecutive policy meetings, a sign Fed officials could hike when they meet in July and...
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Tuesday that inflation is still too high and it's still too early for her organization to declare victory over consumer price rises. Speaking at the Sintra central banking event in Portugal, she said: "Inflation in the euro area is too high and is set to remain so for too long. But the nature of the inflation challenge in the euro area is changing." Headline inflation in May came in at 6.1% for the region, down from 7% in April. But the ECB's target is to bring inflation down to 2%. The euro area has faced higher inflation rates...
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is prepared to tighten policy further if appropriate.
"We will make decisions about the extent of any additional policy and how...
Even before U.S. inflation data on Wednesday came in hotter than expected, Federal Reserve officials had begun worrying last month that progress might have stalled and a longer period of tight...