The Uganda shilling eased against its foreign counterpart on Wednesday amid an uptick in greenback demand from interbank players. The local unit was constrained within the 3660/3680 band in the morning, when emergency dollar buyers’ swarm into market later in the day pushing the shilling to close higher at the 3665/3685 levels weaker than previous […]
The Uganda shilling traded stronger against the U.S dollar on Tuesday with the USD/UGX pair plunging to the 3660/3680 levels. The home unit was boosted to a day’s win as interbank players trimmed long dollar positions amidst low appetite for hard currency from the corporate sector and tight liquidity in the money market arena. A […]
The Uganda shilling traded stronger against the U.S dollar on Wednesday with the USD/UGX pair plunging to the 3710/3730 levels from 3725/3745 range on Tuesday. The home unit was boosted to a day’s win as interbank players trimmed long dollar positions amidst low appetite for hard currency from the corporate sector and skewed liquidity in […]
KAMPALA – The Uganda Shilling remained unchanged at the 3725/3745 levels against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday supported by even flows on both demand and supply counters. There was a slight uptick in activity on the local FX market with dollar buyers emerging late in the session, but the early morning greenback inflows proved enough […]
Raghuram G. Rajan, CHICAGO – The US Federal Reserve is clearly determined to bring down inflation. But no one really knows how high it will have to raise its policy interest rate – and how long it will have to keep it there – to achieve its objective. Many are thus wondering whether the Fed […]
Rabah Arezki, WASHINGTON, DC – Egypt is on the brink of a financial and economic abyss. The portfolio inflows that fueled its sovereign debt market have dried up, repeated currency devaluations have driven the Egyptian pound off a cliff, and inflation is at 21%, following the rapid erosion of the country’s foreign-exchange reserves. After initially recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, […]
Jayati Ghosh NEW DELHI – The Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana famously warned that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But sometimes even those who can recall the past have a selective memory and draw the wrong conclusions. This is how the global policy response to the current bout of inflation […]
Takatoshi Ito, TOKYO – On September 22, Japan’s government purchased yen on the foreign-exchange market for the first time since 1998. The finance ministry was attempting to stem the yen’s rapid slide, and for a while, the $20 billion intervention seemed to be working: the yen’s value rose from nearly ¥146 per US dollar to slightly less than […]
Nouriel Roubini, NEW YORK – For a year now, I have argued that the increase in inflation would be persistent, that its causes include not only bad policies but also negative supply shocks, and that central banks’ attempt to fight it would cause a hard economic landing. When the recession comes, I warned, it will be severe and protracted, with widespread financial distress […]
Mohamed A. El-Erian, CAMBRIDGE – Financial markets’ reaction to the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy move was reminiscent more of developing countries than of the world’s most powerful economy. Given that the Fed is the world’s most systemically important central bank, this is more than just a curiosity. It has implications for America’s economic well-being […]
Shang-Jin Wei, NEW YORK – The world is facing the risk that major central banks will undertake competitive interest-rate hikes that may look desirable for their countries individually but could drag the world economy into an unnecessary recession. This scenario can still be avoided, but the window of opportunity is closing. Aggressive interest-rate increases designed […]
Kaushik Basu, ITHACA – At this year’s Jackson Hole symposium, a major event on the calendars of the world’s central bankers, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered an uncharacteristically strong message about how the Fed plans to combat today’s high inflation. The Fed raised interest rates sharply, by 75 basis points, in both June and July, but Powell made it clear that […]
Hippolyte Fofack, CAIRO – Since the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, sovereign-debt crises have become a regular occurrence for emerging and developing economies. Today, Sri Lanka needs a bailout from the International Monetary Fund after defaulting on its foreign debt in May, and a growing number of low-income countries are facing similar challenges. […]