Economy
Brazil’s Lula to appoint Picchetti, Teixeira to central bank board
BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Monday said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will nominate Paulo Picchetti as central bank director of international affairs and Rodrigo Alves Teixeira as director of institutional relations.
The nominations must receive approval from the Senate before the new directors can take office. They will replace outgoing directors Fernanda Guardado and Mauricio Moura, whose terms are set to expire at the end of December.
With the new picks Lula, who took office in January with harsh criticism of the central bank’s monetary policy, will see four of his chosen candidates seated on its nine-member board.
Government officials had told Reuters that the president was moving swiftly to secure his nominations so that the new directors could vote on the first policy decision of 2024.
Picchetti, a professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV), is widely regarded by the market as a close associate of Haddad. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and a doctorate from the University of Illinois.
“Picchetti’s appointment to the central bank is very positive,” Warren Rena’s chief economist Felipe Salto said. “He is an extremely respected academic, with extensive experience in inflation and price indexes.”
Teixeira, meanwhile, is career civil servant at the central bank. He holds a degree in economics and earned both his master’s and Ph.D. from USP. He held two positions in the Sao Paulo city government during Haddad’s tenure as mayor.
The central bank nominations have been closely monitored by analysts, as some expect that as Lula’s nominees gain more influence in the board, the central bank’s approach to fighting inflation may become more lenient.
Policymakers acknowledge this perception as a potential hindrance to anchoring inflation expectations in line with the official target.
The central bank kicked off an easing cycle in August after holding its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a cycle high for nearly a year to battle inflation.
So far, interest rates have been reduced by 100 basis points to 12.75%, and policymakers have flagged their intent to keep implementing 50 basis-point cuts in the upcoming meetings.
© 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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