EUROZONE
The European Central Bank in a report published on its website on Tuesday (Jan. 10), reiterated that the short-term growth outlook for the Eurozone remains weaker than in the United States, with the bloc expecting a slight contraction in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of this year.
Speaking at a symposium organized by the Sveriges Riksbank, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB Isabel Schnabel stated on Tuesday that interest rates will still have to “rise significantly at a steady pace to reach levels that are sufficiently restrictive,” in order to hit the 2% inflation target.
JAPAN
The consumer price index, or CPI, excluding fresh food rose 4.0% in December in Tokyo, lifting speculation over a shift in the Bank of Japan’s massive monetary easing stance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported Tuesday.
US
Federal Reserve officials said on Monday the central bank will have to keep raising rates. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic stated that interest rates will have to remain at a high level “well into 2024” and that would it be fair to assume the Fed is willing to overshoot on rate hikes. Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly estimated the US economy will keep on slowing in 2023 as a “necessary” consequence of the central bank’s attempts to bring inflation down.
UK
The ONS revealed on Monday a staggering 1.4 million UK households will renew their fixed rate mortgages this year, with 800,000 of those mortgages currently on a rate below 2% and likely to see a doubling in their interest payments. Moreover, BoE data suggests that 25.6% of fixed UK mortgages are up for renewal within the next 1-2 years.
THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands’ consumer price inflation jumped to a double-digit figure of 10.0% in 2022 from 2.7% in 2021, the highest level in forty-seven years amid soaring energy prices, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.
