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No punch bowl. But central banks want the world to party on

Leisurely approach towards tighter monetary stance could result in another year of synchronised global growth in 2018

Washington

CENTRAL bankers are gingerly trying to take away the punch bowl without interrupting the party. Led by interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve and the People's Bank of China, central banks around the world shifted towards a tighter monetary stance this week. Yet, the moves were either so well-telegraphed, or so tiny, and the language about future action so hedged, that there was barely a ripple in financial markets.

"They're terrified of upsetting the markets," said Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief market economist at BNP Paribas. So "they're all exiting quite slowly from emergency settings" on monetary policy.

The likely result of this leisurely approach: another year of synchronised...

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