Page 2 - Central Bank

BOJ survey finds less optimistic manufacturers, but happier service sector

A key Japanese central bank report said Monday that sentiment among big manufacturers has sagged but that optimism is at a three-decade high among large business outside the manufacturing sector. The Bank of Japan's tankan report said sentiment among large manufacturers, which include auto and electronics giants, declined in March for the first time in a year, standing at plus 11, down two points from December. The average market forecast by Japanese news service Kyodo was 9. The index for large-scale non-manufacturers, including the service sector, hit a 33-year high at plus 34 points, up two points from the last report in December. The tankan, carried out every three months, surveys about 9,000 Japanese companies and measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those saying they are positive. The optimism among the non-manufacturing businesses reflects the return of tourism, both overseas and domestic, which had

Fed's balancing act could see rate cut in play even with sticky inflation

Others see a slowing economy and weakening job growth on the horizon, pushing the Fed to cut in order to support the labor market

Govt's dividend income from RBI in FY25 to be similar to FY24: Report

For fiscal 2025, the government has budgeted a 1.02 trillion rupees surplus transfer from RBI and public sector banks, but had not provided a break-up between the two in the budget

'Thai economy shrinks, adds to rate cut case amid central bank, PM feud'

From a year earlier, GDP grew 1.7%, faster than revised 1.4% growth in the third quarter but slower than a forecast 2.5% expansion

PBOC leaves key policy rate unchanged under shadow of Federal Reserve

Beijing is striking a delicate balancing act to support the economy at a time when signs of persistent deflationary pressure call for more stimulus measures

Russian central bank holds interest rate at 16% after months of tightening

Russia's domestic demand was still outstripping production capacity, the bank said, with labour shortages still the key constraint on expanding the output of goods and services

Reserve Bank of India, Nepal Rastra Bank sign pact for UPI-NPI linkage

The integration of Indian and Nepalese fast payment systems is aimed at facilitating cross-border remittances between the two countries, RBI said

China's central bank projects 'modest' rebound for consumer prices

In its policy report, the PBOC vowed to step up policy coordination and support consumption as well as investment, so prices stay within a reasonable range

Sri Lanka's key inflation rises to 6.4% in January on higher sales tax

Food prices rose 3.3% in January from 0.3% in December, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement. Prices for non-food items rose 7.9% in January from 5.8% year-on-year in December

China cuts bank reserve needs, boost property lending to support economy

China's central bank said Wednesday it will cut the ratio of reserves banks must hold as part of a slew of measures to support the slowing economy. The announcement by the People's Bank of China prompted a surge in share prices, with Hong Kong's benchmark jumping 3.6%. Chinese stock markets have languished in recent months as investors pulled money out, discouraged by a faltering recovery from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sell-off earlier in the week was followed by unconfirmed reports that the government planned to get state-owned investment companies to funnel offshore funds into the markets to help staunch the losses. The central bank's moves appear to be part of a concerted effort to stabilize the markets and instill greater confidence in the outlook for the world's second-largest economy. Central bank Gov. Pan Gongsheng said the deposit reserve requirement would be cut by 0.5 percentage points as of Feb 5. Pan said that would inject about 1 trillion yuan (USD 141 ...

RBI asks Ombudsmen to guide REs addressing recurring customer complaints

"A well-functioning Internal Ombudsman mechanism is beneficial for all stakeholders"

Reserve Bank of India net sells $1.9 billion in November, shows data

The rupee depreciated by 0.17 per cent in November. The RBI's net outstanding forward sales by the end of November stood at $11.9 billion, against $14.6 billion in October

India's forex reserves jump $2.75 bn to $623.2 bn, shows RBI data

In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $4.471 billion to $620.441 billion

Central banks have saved the world in the past. And will do so again

'Central banks will occupy an ever-more important position in the economic and security life of nations, if history is any guide'

97.26% Rs 2000 banknotes returned to RBI; circulation down to Rs 9,760 cr

In May the circulation of the Rs 2,000 banknote amounted to Rs 3.56 trillion, this has now gone to Rs 9,760 cr as of November 30

State Bank of India, BoB target 1 million user base in retail CBDC

Separately, Balaji Rajagopalan, SBI's Chief Technology Officer, said that the target is to achieve 1,000,000 users by the end of December from the existing 400,000 users

Turkey's central bank hikes rates again to tame eye-watering inflation

Turkey's central bank delivered another huge interest rate hike on Thursday as it tries to curb double-digit inflation that has left households struggling to afford food and other basic goods. The bank pushed its policy rate up by 5 percentage points, to 40 per cent, marking its sixth big interest rate hike in a row focused on beating down inflation that hit an eye-watering 61.36 per cent last month. However, the bank said its rate hikes would soon end. The current level of monetary tightness is significantly close to the level required to establish the disinflation course, the bank said. Accordingly, the pace of monetary tightening will slow down and the tightening cycle will be completed in a short period of time. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long been a proponent of an unorthodox policy of cutting interest rates to fight inflation and had fired central bank governors who resisted his rate-slashing policies. That runs counter to traditional economic thinking, and many blam

RBI bars Bajaj Finance from lending under eCOM, Insta EMI Card products

Bajaj Finance says no material impact; to review KFS

The stunning resilience of emerging markets

Prudent economic policies and central bank independence have allowed them to defy analysts' expectations of a debt spiral

Govt approves extension of Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank MDs' tenure

The government has cleared the extension of tenure of managing directors of two public sector lenders -- Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Central Bank of India. According to sources, Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved extension of term of office of A S Rajeev, MD and CEO of BoM, for six months till his superannuation. Besides, sources said, ACC has extended the term of M V Rao, MD and CEO of Central Bank of India, till July 31, 2025. Rajeev was appointed MD and CEO of BoM in 2018 while Rao took charge as MD and CEO of Central Bank of India in 2021.