Inflation Stories of the Week (January 31, 2014)

1. Rajan Signals India Inflation Target Amid Vote Tension (Bloomberg): India central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan may attempt to make inflation the bank's primary priority. Rajan says, "If the government policies in aggregate prove to be expansionary, we will have to adjust policies ourselves to meet the overall disinflationary process. We can’t throw up our hands in some sense and say there is nothing we can do because of the fiscal dominance."

2. Hungary Rate-Cut Resolve Challenged by Investors as Forint Drops (Bloomberg): Inflation in Hungary is at its lowest since 1970. Central banks in Turkey and South Africa are raising rates to try and stop falling currencies, but the Hungarian central bank faces a challenge because monetary easing is more appropriate to its inflation and growth conditions.

3. Inflation in Euro Zone Falls, and a 12% Jobless Rate Doesn’t Budge (NYT): The 0.7 percent inflation rate may have surprised the ECB.

4. Japan’s Inflation Accelerates as Abe Seeks Wage Gains (Bloomberg): Japan's inflation has inched up, but the real test will come at the annual wage talks in April. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has met five times since September with business and union leaders to encourage them to raise salaries, which have risen slower than prices.

Inflation Stories of the Week Archive