Central Banks Raise Interest Rates Worldwide Following US Rate Hike
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Several central banks in Europe and Asia raised interest rates on Thursday, one day after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates to fight inflation.
Central banks in Sweden, Norway, the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Africa raised interest rates on Thursday. Switzerland’s central bank approved its largest rate hike ever — three quarters of a percentage point, from -0.25% to 0.5%. Meanwhile, Turkey’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point despite more than 80% inflation, and Japan’s central bank took steps to strengthen its currency for the first time since 1998.
The rate hikes came amid persistently high global inflation. In August, inflation hit 9% in Sweden, 6.5% in Norway, 3.5% in Switzerland, 4.9% in the Philippines, 4.69% in Indonesia and 7.6% in South Africa. While rate hikes could reduce inflation, they are also expected to come with economic “pain” for some families and businesses.
Coverage was rare in mainstream left-rated outlets like CNN (Left bias) and absent from most right-rated outlets like Fox News (Right bias). However, major legacy outlets like The New York Times (Lean Left bias) and The Wall Street Journal (Center bias) featured the story at the top of their homepages. Outlets across the spectrum frequently covered rate hikes in the U.S., and right-rated outlets followed a long-standing trend of focusing less on international stories.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
Treasury Yields Surge as Global Central Banks Scramble to Respond to Fed, Inflation
U.S. government bond yields surged Thursday, after foreign governments and central banks rushed to raise interest rates or otherwise support local currencies pressured by the dollar’s strongest rally in a generation.
U.S. yields were largely stable overnight after the Federal Reserve raised short-term rates by 0.75 percentage point for the third consecutive meeting and said more large rate increases are likely as the central bank seeks to quell inflation.
From the Left
Central banks worldwide tighten policies to cool inflation
The U.S. Federal Reserve has been the most aggressive in using interest rate hikes to cool inflation that is battering both households and businesses this year. This week, central banks from Asia to England followed suit to varying degrees and using different economic tools to tame rising prices that are not isolated to the U.S.
Following are actions taken Thursday, and also earlier this week, by central banks globally:
Turkey: The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey lowered the benchmark rate by 1 percentage point, to 12%. The lira was trading around 18.38...
From the Right
'Economic Discontent' Is On The Rise As Central-Bank-Nado Strikes Markets Overnight
A herd of wild central banks stormed across markets overnight - following The Fed's uber-hawkish 75bps hike and dot-plot projections - sparking chaotic swings in everything from Yen to Gilts. Everyone hiked or held rates... except Turkey which cut!
Japan
BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged, as expected, with rates at -0.10% and QQE with yield curve control maintained to target the 10yr JGB yield at around 0% through a unanimous decision.
Japanese Government and BoJ intervened in FX markets for the first time since 1998, according to the Japanese Vice Finance Minister...
AllSides Picks
April 18th, 2024
April 24th, 2024
April 24th, 2024
More News about Banking and Finance from the Left, Center and Right
From the Left
From the Center
From the Right
