Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Negative interest rates as the new normal; Ukraine ups interest rate to 30%; Ikea furniture to charge mobiles wirelessly

1 Negative interest rates as the new normal (Nouriel Roubini in The Guardian) Monetary policy has become increasingly unconventional in the last six years, with central banks implementing zero-interest-rate policies, quantitative easing, credit easing, forward guidance, and unlimited exchange-rate intervention. But now we have come to the most unconventional policy tool of them all: negative nominal interest rates.

Such rates currently prevail in the eurozone, Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden. And it is not just short-term policy rates that are now negative in nominal terms: about $3tn of assets in Europe and Japan, at maturities as long as 10 years (in the case of Swiss government bonds), now have negative interest rates.

Beyond retail savers, banks that are holding cash in excess of required reserves have no choice but to accept the negative interest rates that central banks impose. Many long-term investors, like insurance companies and pension funds, have no alternative, as they are required to hold safer bonds.

Over time, of course, negative nominal and real returns may lead savers to save less and spend more. And that is precisely the goal of negative interest rates: in a world where supply outstrips demand and too much saving chases too few productive investments, the equilibrium interest rate is low, if not negative. Indeed, if the advanced economies were to suffer from secular stagnation, a world with negative interest rates on both short- and long-term bonds could become the new normal.

To avoid that, central banks and fiscal authorities need to pursue policies to jump-start growth and induce positive inflation. Paradoxically, that implies a period of negative interest rates to induce savers to save less and spend more. But it also requires fiscal stimulus, especially public investment in productive infrastructure projects, which yield higher returns than the bonds used to finance them.


2 Ukraine ups interest rate to 30% (BBC) Ukraine's central bank has sharply raised interest rates from 19.5% to 30% in an effort to curb inflation and prop up its beleaguered currency. It comes as the government in Kiev is seeking a $17.5bn assistance programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Inflation is expected to hit at least 26% this year and the hryvnia has tumbled against the dollar. The currency has lost 80% of its value since last April, when pro-Russian separatists took up arms in the country's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.

The conflict has taken its toll on Ukraine's economy, which is forecast to shrink by 5.5% in 2015. The interest rate increase is the second in two months, after the central bank raised the rate from 14% in February.

Ukraine's parliament has approved a package of reforms that could determine whether it will avoid economic meltdown in the coming weeks. They include changes to the tax and energy laws and the government's budget. The passing of the reform package was a condition for the IMF rescue package.


3 Ikea furniture to charge mobiles wirelessly (Amy Graff in San Francisco Chronicle) Swedish furniture maker Ikea is introducing furniture with wireless devices that charge your phone. The line of tables, desks and lamps was unveiled in Barcelona, and will arrive in North America stores on April 15.

The furniture items, which require a power source, charge wirelessly through a small, discreet charge pad. The pads will also be sold separately (for about $33) to add onto existing Ikea pieces. 

“People hate cable mess. They worry about not finding the charger and running out of power,” Jeanette Skjelmose, Ikea’s business area manager for lighting and wireless charging, told The Wall Street Journal. Apple lovers: Don’t get too excited. The charging pads are compatible with the Samsung Galaxy and Google Nexus 6, among a few others. Ikea’s new line won’t give your iPhone a boost.

No comments:

Post a Comment