All reserve banks news

The Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell said in a speech in New York on Wednesday that the Fed should wait longer before tightening its monetary policy, but he expects the first interest rate hike "later this year". He added that he believes it's better to raise interest rate if the economic data better than expected.

Powell noted that the financial crisis damaged the productive capacity of the U.S. economy. "Given this uncertainty, it is even more difficult than usual to assess how much slack remains. It seems plausible that at least part of this supply-side damage could be reversed if the economy enjoys a period of sustained growth," he said.

The Federal Reserve governor expects that the labour market will continue to strengthen.

Powell noted that he expects the interest rate to increase "fairly gradually".

The Bank of England released its quarterly Credit Conditions Survey on Wednesday. U.K. lenders expect the demand for secured lending for house purchase to increase in the second quarter of 2015. The demand for secured lending for house purchase fell in the first quarter.

The demand for credit card lending by households also declined in the first quarter.

The demand for lending from large corporates rose in the first quarter, while the demand from small businesses and medium-sized companies remained unchanged.

The Bank of Japan left the key interest rate unchanged at 0.10% after an 8 to 1 vote and kept the bank's Monetary Base Target unchanged at 275 billion. One member voted against and expressed that the stimulus should be reduced but was voted down. Takahide Kiuchi wants the BoJ to cut its asset-purchase target by almost half. The bank should make inflation at 2% a medium to long term target. Tensions on the board are intensifying.

The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Tuesday that it purchased almost 61 billion euros of government bonds and other assets in March. The central bank beat its target in the first month of a quantitative easing programme. The ECB started to buy government bonds on March 09.

The ECB purchased 52.555 billion euros of government bonds since March 09: 11.1 billion euros of German government bonds, 8.75 billion euros of French government bonds and 7.6 billion euros of Italian government bonds.

The ECB said that it settled 64.670 billion euros in total covered bond purchases as of April 03, and 4.888 billion euros in purchases of asset-backed securities (ABS).

The European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board Member Yves Mersch said in an interview on Tuesday that the central bank could adjust its quantitative easing programme if inflation target will be achieved faster than expected.

He noted that the exchange rate should not be used to lift Eurozone's competitiveness because it would breach European Union law.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said in an interview Monday on Monday that he prefers the Fed will start to raise its interest rate in July or September. He added that the Fed will have more data, and that the first quarter was "anomalous again".

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president expects a rebound in the second quarter.

Lockhart is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year.

The Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said on Tuesday that the Fed should delay its interest rate hike until the second half of 2016. He added that the Fed should hike interest rate gradually to 2% by the end of 2017.

Kocherlakota noted that "the ongoing conversation about tightening monetary policy" may be a risk to the U.S. economy.

The Minneapolis Fed president believes that it is better not raise interest rate this year as employment grows slowly and inflation is still low.

He expects that the U.S. economy would need at least three more years of labour market improvement, and inflation will not increase back to the Fed's 2% target until 2018.

The Swiss National Bank's foreign exchange reserves increased to 522.323 billion Swiss francs in March from 509.245 billion francs in February.

February's figure was revised down from 509.250 billion francs.

The increase was likely driven by a decline in the Swiss franc. The rise could also reflect the intervention by the central bank.

The SNB declined to comment if it may have intervened.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said on Monday that the U.S. economy will grow faster as a slowdown in the first quarter was partly caused by the bad weather.

He noted that a stronger U.S. dollar is "another significant shock" to the U.S. economy, making U.S. exports more expensive.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York president pointed out that falling oil drilling and exploration is a risk to the economy.

Dudley is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

After cutting rates in February the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its rates steady at 2.25% although the fall of commodity prices weighs on the Australian economy - the price of iron ore, accounting for 20% of Australia's exports, set a new 10-year low last week. In China, the country's biggest trade partner, the economy is slowing. The RBA wants to assess the effects of the last cut before taking further measures but another rate-cut is likely to happen. In a statement the RBA noted that even lower exchange rates will be needed in order to achieve the targeted economic growth. The bank said that domestic demand is quite weak.

The Australian dollar rallied after the announcement, currently trading at USD0.7674.

The Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said on Thursday that the economic mobility strengthens the economy and more research is needed to understand what policies have impact on that economic mobility.

"Research could help us better understand how much mobility at the individual level matters for overall growth in productivity and economic output," Yellen noted.

Yellen didn't comment on monetary policy or the economic outlook.

The European Central Bank Executive Board Member Sabine Lautenschlaeger expressed doubts that the quantitative easing programme by the central bank will have the desired effect.

"Given the current low level of interest rates in the euro zone, I have doubts whether the economic effects of the purchase programme will reach the desired magnitude," Lautenschlaeger told in an interview to the German weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

She warned that low interest rate could lead to overheating or asset price bubbles.

Lautenschlaeger noted that quantitative leading may lead to refusal to implement reforms.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) its minutes of March meeting on Thursday. According to the minutes, the Governing Council reiterated to keep its monetary policy "for as long as needed".

The Governing Council members noted that quantitative easing by the central bank was adequate to reach the price stability.

The ECB officials pointed out that there is no need to implement further stimulus measures.

The deposit rate at -20 basis points is the effective lower bound, the Governing Council said.

Some of the Governing Council members expressed concerns that the growth in the Eurozone may be slower that forecasted. The ECB upgraded its growth estimate to 1.5% for 2015 on March 5, up from 1% in December last year. Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to be 1.9% in 2016 and 2.1% in 2017.

The ECB decided on January 22 to launch an expanded asset purchase programme of 60 billion euro a month starting from March 2015 until September 2016.