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Bloomberg

Central Banks to Pour Money Into Economy Despite Sharp Rebound

(Bloomberg) — The aggressive rebound in global economic growth still isn’t enough for most of the world’s central banks to pull back on their emergency stimulus.In Bloomberg’s quarterly review of monetary policy covering 90% of the world economy, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are among the 16 institutions set to hold interest rates this year.The outlook suggests officials still want to guarantee the recovery from last year’s coronavirus recession by maintaining ultra-low borrowing costs and asset-buying programs. That may require them to accept any accompanying bounce in inflation.Six central banks, most of them in emerging markets, are still predicted to hike, including Brazil, Russia and Nigeria. Turkey is the only one of those monitored which is forecast to cut borrowing costs this year.What Bloomberg Economics Says:“For advanced economies, continued virus uncertainty, deep labor market scars, and a recognition that past decisions erred on the side of deflationary preemption will conspire to keep policy looser for longer. In many emerging markets, currency stress means central banks don’t have that luxury.”–Tom Orlik, chief economistHere is Bloomberg’ quarterly guide to 23 of the world’s top central banks:GROUP OF SEVENU.S. Federal ReserveCurrent federal funds rate (upper bound): 0.25%Bloomberg Economics forecast for end of 2021: 0.25%A key question for Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues is when to start talking about scaling back their massive bond purchases if the economy continues to recover as they expect.Officials have vowed to keep buying $120 billion of Treasuries and mortgage-backed bonds every month until they see “substantial further progress” on inflation and employment. That test could be met sooner than anticipated if the U.S. labor market continues to perform as it did in March, when a better-than-expected 916,000 new jobs were added.Powell has so far avoided putting any time frame around when he thinks it’ll be appropriate to slow bond buying, but promises to give investors plenty of advance warning. The Fed has also signaled it expects to keep rates near zero through 2023.Officials at their meeting in March maintained that dovish message, according to a record of their discussion released on April 7, while Powell continues to stress the recovery remains incomplete and uneven.Part of its hesitancy to talk publicly about bond purchases stems from harsh experience: The Fed wants to avoid a repeat of the 2013 taper tantrum, when unexpected news that it was thinking about slowing bond buying roiled financial markets and hurt the economy.What Bloomberg Economics Says:“The U.S. economy may be launching into the fastest growth since 1983, but the Fed is firmly resolved to not only maintain the current stance of policy accommodation deeper into the recovery, but also to retract it more gradually under their new outcome-based framework for achieving its dual mandate. While Fed officials previously talked of seeing the ‘whites of the eyes’ of inflation before responding through policy tightening, the new framework is more akin to waiting to see inflation’s coattails — as the central bank is prepared to endure a ‘transitory’ overshoot of their 2% inflation target.”–Carl RiccadonnaEuropean Central BankCurrent deposit rate: -0.5%Bloomberg Economics forecast for end of 2021: -0.5%The ECB has pledged to keep financing conditions for governments, companies and households “favorable” until the coronavirus crisis phase is over, using its 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program to keep bond yields low, and dishing out ultra-cheap loans to banks.PEPP is due to run until at least the end of March 2022 and while policy makers say they won’t spend the full amount unless needed, most economists expect them to do so. The euro-area…