By Fédéric Holm-Hadulla and Sebastiaan Pool Central banks usually seek to align very short-term interest rates in the money market with their own policy rate. But money market rates fluctuate also for reasons other than policy. This blog shows that monetary policy is more effective if such fluctuations are small. Discussions about monetary policy usually centre on whether interest rates should go up, down or stay the same. The complexities of how monetary policy is carried out in practice often go...

Read more

Member states’ representatives (Coreper) approved today the Council’s position (‘negotiating mandate’) on one of the Commission’s proposals to simplify EU rules and thus boost EU competitiveness. This proposal aims to increase the EU's investment capacity to mobilise around €50 billion in additional public and private investments in support of certain EU policies, notably related to the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal, defence industrial policy and military mobility. The proposed changes further seek to make it easier for Member States to...

Read more

From Monday to Saturday, Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, in charge of Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification, Commissioner Jozef Síkela, in charge of International Partnerships, and Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque, in charge of Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union, are attending the 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C.   Commissioner Dombrovskis will represent the European Commission at the sessions of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) at the International Monetary Fund...

Read more

EIB Group President Nadia Calviño will lead an EIB Group delegation to meet   global partners and fellow Multilateral Development Banks in Washington DC Boosting strategic investment to reinforce peace, prosperity and partnerships is at the heart of the EIB Group agenda Announcements to include  new investments for energy security, climate action and accelerated support for Ukraine, as well strengthening cooperation with fellow Multilateral Development Banks An EIB Group delegation led by President Nadia Calviño will participate in the 2025 Spring Meetings of...

Read more

International aid from official donors fell in 2024 by 7.1% in real terms compared to 2023, the first drop after five years of consecutive growth, according to preliminary data collected by the OECD. The fall in official development assistance (ODA) was due to a reduction in contributions to international organisations, as well as a decrease in aid for Ukraine, lower levels of humanitarian aid and reduced spending on hosting refugees in donor countries. ODA by member countries of the OECD’s Development...

Read more

Blog post by: Era Dabla-Norris, Davide Furceri, Mauricio Soto | Public approval is crucial for carrying out difficult reforms that can help countries lower debt and increase growth Many countries struggle with low economic growth and high debt and will need bold fiscal actions to restore their finances. Two significant areas for potential savings are energy subsidies and pension systems. However, reforms in both areas can be unpopular with the public. Public support is crucial for the success of these reforms, and governments...

Read more

Today, the European Commission adopted the 2025-2030 working plan for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and Energy Labelling Regulation. The plan provides a list of products that should be prioritised to introduce ecodesign requirements and energy labelling over the next five years. This will foster sustainable, repairable, circular and energy efficient products across Europe,  in line with the Clean Industrial Deal and the Competitiveness Compass. The priority products for ecodesign and energy labelling requirements are steel and aluminium, textiles (with a focus on apparel), furniture, tyres and mattresses. These...

Read more

NEW YORK—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the March 2025 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that households’ inflation expectations increased at the short-term horizon, remained unchanged at the medium-term horizon, and ticked down at the longer-term horizon. Unemployment, job loss, and earnings growth expectations deteriorated. Household income growth expectations declined. Households were also more pessimistic about their year-ahead financial situations and credit access. Stock price expectations declined and reached the lowest level...

Read more

Firms reported declining interest rates on bank loans, while indicating a slight further tightening of other lending conditions. The bank loan financing gap remained almost unchanged, with firms reporting a reduced need for such loans alongside a slight decrease in availability. Firms’ one-year-ahead median inflation expectations decreased slightly to 2.9%, down from 3%, while median inflation expectations three and five years ahead remained unchanged at 3.0%. In the most recent round of the Survey on the Access to Finance...

Read more