NEW YORK - Global central banks remain under pressure to do more to support their economies through the coronavirus recession even after driving interest rates to record lows and pledging to spend trillions of dollars on asset purchases.
"The extremity of the virus crisis is forcing central banks to push the limits of the possible," said Tom Orlik, chief economist at Bloomberg Economics."We expect the ECB to expand its fire fighting Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme and the Bank of Japan to roll out more support for corporates. Ahead of the game in terms of the size and scope of stimulus, the Fed won't add additional support, but will confirm it has space to do more.
Economists in a Bloomberg survey have limited expectations for any substantial changes at this week's meeting. Large majorities, 90 per cent and 87 per cent, said they didn't expect policy makers to offer any additional guidance on how long they intend to keep rates near zero, or on the future pace of large-scale asset purchases.
The European Central Bank sets policy on Thursday with a heavy weight on its shoulders as governments argue over joint fiscal action. But one in four respondents to a Bloomberg survey said the ECB could still boost the size of its pandemic purchase program from 750 billion euros as early as Thursday. Most see it happening by September.
Sweden has equal or better medical results than most European lockdown states without the lasting economic damage & is well underway to natural herd immunity