Banking

Bloomberg The Bank of Italy expects the nation’s economy to expand in 2018 at the same pace as last year since monetary policy “is working” and the ongoing reduction of economic slack has strengthened confidence, Governor Ignazio Visco said. The central bank expects Italy’s gross domestic product will expand about 1.5 percent this year and should remain above 1 percent ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s central bank raised its key interest rate as expected for a second straight meeting and signalled it will prioritise the peso’s inflation implications rather than moves by the Federal Reserve for its future decisions. Banco de Mexico’s board voted unanimously to lift borrowing costs a quarter point to 7.5 percent, a move forecast by 23 of 26 economists ...

DUBAI / Reuters Sharp swings in global financial markets in the past few days are not worrying since economic growth is strong but reforms are still needed to avert future crises, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday. Christine Lagarde, speaking at a conference on global business and social trends in Dubai, said economies were also ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank has woken up to the risks digital currencies can pose to policy makers’ bread-and-butter business: the economy. “If you increasingly have bridges between the virtual world and the real world and then there is a collapse in this virtual world, it could drain liquidity from the real world,” Executive Board member Yves Mersch said in ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Russia is refocussing its sights on trying to support economic growth after inflation settled at the lowest level in the country’s modern history and geopolitical risks receded. While central banks tend to eschew efforts to look beyond their mandate, policy makers in Moscow appear willing to take on the challenge of economic growth head on. The ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve will face growing pressure to accelerate its planned interest-rate increases after a nearly $300 billion spending package signed into law juices a US economy already souped up on tax cuts. Economists at banks and consulting companies are busy marking up their economic forecasts in response to the legislation, saying it will help lift growth in 2018 ...

Bloomberg Russia’s central bank reduced interest rates for the fourth meeting in a row and said it may complete its move to looser monetary policy a year earlier than planned. The balance of risks has shifted “slightly” towards those to economic growth, and a transition from moderately tight to neutral monetary policy may be completed already in 2018, according to ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to nominate Haruhiko Kuroda to lead the Bank of Japan for another five years, according to reports from Kyodo News and Nikkei. His reappointment beyond his current term ending April 8 has been widely expected by economists, according to a Bloomberg survey in January. Motosada Matano, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office, ...

CAIRO / Reuters Egypt’s annual inflation rates dropped in January to their lowest levels since the country floated its currency in November 2016, official data showed. The Egyptian pound lost half of its value and prices shot up after Egypt floated the currency in November 2016 to secure a $12 billion IMF deal to revive its economy. Annual urban consumer ...

Bloomberg What’s supposed to be the most volatile asset in the universe is proving to be a bastion of stability compared with wild swings and carnage in global equities this week. Bitcoin clawed its way back from the four-month low of $5,922 it touched, rebounding 53 percent to $9,069. The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both ...