Macroeconomics

The European Central Bank today raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points to 3.5%, the highest level since 2008, and did not comment on what its future steps might be to control inflation.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday as promised, ignoring financial market chaos and calls by investors to dial back policy tightening at least until sentiment stabilizes.

Japan's central bank left its ultra-easy monetary policy unchanged in its last meeting before Governor Haruhiko Kuroda steps down and is replaced by economics professor Kazuo Ueda.

While most analysts expected the Bank of Japan to stay the course in Kuroda's final policy decision, some had speculated about a surprise tweak.

BELGRADE - According to the results of an Ipsos survey, the Serbian financial sector expects one-year ahead inflation (in January 2024) to be 8 pct, unchanged for a fourth consecutive month, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has said.

According to the February Bloomberg survey, one-year ahead inflation expectations are lower, at 7.0 pct, the central bank said in a statement.

Türkiye's inflation rate slowed for a third successive month in January, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Consumer prices grew at an annual rate of 57.68 percent in January compared to 64.3 percent in December last year, according to the state statistics agency.

Greece's economic sentiment index rose from 103.5 in December to 104.9 points in January, its highest reading in the last 10 months, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said on Wednesday.

Annual inflation in the Eurozone fell to 8.5% in January, according to Eurostat's preliminary data. This is the third month in a row that inflation has slowed.

The data comes ahead of the European Central Bank's first key meeting of the year. Later in the day, the Federal Reserve in the United States is expected to announce another interest rate hike.

The Central Bank has not changed its 2023 inflation forecast and maintained its year-end consumer price index at 22.3 percent.

The government predicts a gradual descent instead of a hard break in the fight against inflation, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati has said, adding that inflation-related parameters have turned positive.

Japan's consumer prices rose 4 percent in December from a year earlier, a level not seen since December 1981, fueled in part by higher energy bills, government data showed on Jan. 20.

The acceleration came after a 3.7 percent increase in prices in November, and the data from the internal affairs ministry showed inflation for the 2022 calendar year stood at 2.3 percent.