Since the US Federal Reserve began jacking up interest rates in March 2022 to slow inflation, economists, policymakers and investors have been calculating and recalculating its chances of achieving a so-called soft landing — slowing the economy enough to rein in prices without triggering a sharp rise in unemployment. A year later, inflation was dropping but debates still raged over whether the Fed was likely to land safely or overshoot or undershoot the runway. Then new turbulence was added by the biggest banking crisis since 2008. While the bank failures were largely limited to the US, other central banks faced difficult choices on whether to continue, pause or reverse interest rate hikes.
Read More : Global Central Banks Confronting Challenging Decisions Ahead