CAIRO: The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points in an attempt to fight inflation, whereas Ukraine kept its 11-year high key interest rate unchanged.
Japan’s June exports rose by 19.4 percent year on year, while the UK’s budget deficit worsened due to a surge in prices.
ECB increases rates by 50 bps in fight against inflation
The ECB raised interest rates by more than expected on Thursday, confirming that concerns about runaway inflation trump economic growth considerations for now.
The ECB raised its benchmark deposit rate by 50 basis points to 0 percent, breaking its own earlier guidance for a 25 basis point move as it joined global peers in jacking up borrowing costs. It was the eurozone central bank’s first rate hike for 11 years.
Ukraine keeps key interest rate unchanged, increases inflation forecast
Ukraine’s central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at a seven-year-high of 25 percent on Thursday and raised its 2022 inflation forecast to more than 30 percent.
Devastated by the war with Russia, Ukraine’s economy fell by around 40 percent year on year in the second quarter of this year, the central bank said, opening up the possibility it could keep the key rate at 25 percent until the second quarter of 2024.
Japan’s June exports rise 19.4 percent year-on-year
Japan’s exports rose 19.4 percent in June from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Thursday.
That compared with a 17.5 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
June imports surged 46.1 percent year-on-year, versus the median estimate for a 45.7 percent increase.
The trade balance came to a deficit of 1.3838 trillion yen ($10.00 billion), versus a median estimate of a 1.510 trillion yen shortfall.
Inflation surge pushes up UK’s budget deficit
A surge in debt costs — pushed up by soaring inflation to twice tits previous monthly peak — added to the UK’s budget deficit in June, which was its highest since April 2021, data showed on Thursday.
The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing excluding state-owned banks rose to £22.879 billion ($27.4 billion) last month from 12.560 billion pounds in May.
Sri Lanka inflation hit 59 percent year-on-year in June
Sri Lanka’s headline inflation rate hit 59 percent in June, according to data from the country’s statistics department released on Thursday.
The country’s National Consumer Price Index LKNCPI=ECI rose by 58.9 percent year-on-year in June, against a 45.3 percent rise in May.
(With input from Reuters)
