Central banks to stay on hold in 2019 - ING

Analysts at ING expect that most Asian central banks will leave policies on hold this year, if not ease as a weak end to one year makes it arithmetically harder for the following year to score well.

Key Quotes

“Central banks in Japan, Korea, and Malaysia meet next week. All are expected to remain on hold. Our interest lies in the Bank of Korea’s policy as the central bank also releases its quarterly Economic Outlook on the same day (24 January). In its October report, the BoK forecast 2.7% GDP growth for 2019, the same as its estimate for 2018.”

“The 2018 growth forecast is unlikely to be met and the pace for 2019 looks to be far off in view of the global slowdown in the tech sector. As such, a downgrade to the BoK’s growth outlook for the current year shouldn’t come as surprise to anyone. However, we don't think this will move the central bank to reverse the December rate hike just yet.”