Emerging market central bank rate cuts fade further

Emerging market central banks delivered just one interest rate cut in December, signalling the fading out of an easing cycle that had started in 2019 and had exceeded the cuts during the 2008 financial crisis and the 2010 euro crisis.

Of a group of 37 central banks across developing economies, only Romania cut interest rates in January, following a total of one net interest rate cut in December and two net interest rate cuts in November.

A net four cuts in September had marked the 20th straight month of interest rate cuts, Reuters calculations showed.

At the peak of the last easing cycle in March, 27 of the 37 central banks cut interest rates, trying to protect their economies as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic rippled through markets around the world.