Economy
Kashkari: not ready to say Fed is done raising rates
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Neel Kashkari, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, attends an interview with Reuters in New York City, New York, U.S., May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
By Ann Saphir
(Reuters) -Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari on Tuesday said that while the U.S. central bank has made some progress in its inflation fight, interest rates may still need to go higher to finish the job.
“I’m not ready to say that we’re done,” Kashkari told the APi Group Global Controllers Conference in Minneapolis. But with inflation showing signs of slowing in recent months, he said, “I’m seeing positive signs that say, hey, we may be on our way; we can take a little bit more time to get some more data and before we decide whether we need to do more.”
The Fed has lifted its benchmark policy rate target 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 to fight the fastest inflation in 40 years, including a quarter-of-a-percentage point interest-rate hike last month to a 5.25% to 5.00% range.
Yearly inflation by the Fed’s preferred gauge — the personal consumption expenditures price index — has fallen from last summer’s peak of 7% to 3% in June.
Still, Kashkari noted, underlying inflation excluding volatile energy and food prices is still more than twice the Fed’s 2% target, and he needs “convincing” evidence it is coming down further to feel confident the Fed has done enough.
Meanwhile, he added, the Fed is a “long way” from cutting rates, though reducing them next year is a possibility if inflation continues to fall, “just to keep monetary policy at a stable point, not keep tightening,” he said.
The labor market is quite tight, he said, and with economic growth continuing to exceed expectations, there’s no sign that a recession is around the corner. Still, he said, some slowing from rate hikes to date is still likely in the pipeline.
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.
With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.
China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.
The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.
“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.
The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.
($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
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