Monetary Policy Week in Review - 25 February 2012

[Central Bank News]

The past week in monetary policy saw two central banks changing their main interest rates; Colombia +25bps to 5.25%, and Belarus -500bps to 38.00%, while two held their rates unchanged; Namibia at 6.00%, and Turkey at 5.75%.  Turkey did however cut some of its other interest rates (see the update for details).  Also making headlines was the People's Bank ofChina announcing a 50 basis point cut to the Required Reserve Ratio, an important move towards more growth focused policy settings.

Looking at the central bank calendar, the week ahead features a handful of emerging/frontier market central bank meetings; with decisions due from Israel, Hungary, and the Philippines. The main event of the next week in central banking though will be the European Central Bank's second LTRO. Also of note is US Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, testifying before the House and Senate on Thursday and Friday.

• ILS - Israel (Bank of Israel) expected to hold at 2.75%% on the 27th of Feb
• HUF - Hungary (Magyar Nemzeti Bank)  expected to hold at 7.00% on the 28th of Feb
• PHP - Philippines (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) expected to hold at 4.25%% on the 1st of March

Also during the past week Central Bank News released data, extending back to January 2000, for the Global Monetary Policy Rate Index - Emerging Markets.

Source: www.CentralBankNews.info

Article source: http://www.centralbanknews.info/2012/02/monetary-policy-week-in-review-25.html