Page 68 - Eco News Today

Changes to the Brazilian inflation targeting system should not be linked to how monetary policy is carried out, the central bank's director of economic policy said on Monday, amid speculation of an imminent change in inflation goal timelines.

Median expectations for inflation over the next 12 months fell to 4.1% in April.

The outlook for most major housing markets has improved slightly from three months ago despite high interest rates, according to Reuters polls of property analysts who were mostly split on whether affordability would worsen or not.

Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto said on Monday that long-term inflation expectations, which have long concerned policymakers, would start to decline and pointed to a clearer economic environment.

Underlying price pressures in the euro zone may prove more difficult to tame but monetary policy is showing signs of effectiveness and further rate hikes must be done step by step, Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot said on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka will slash the price of 60 essential drugs by 16% from June 15, the Health Minister said on Tuesday, as the country sees a glimmer of relief from its worst financial crisis in decades.

Saudi Arabia's stock market edged higher in early trade on Tuesday amid hopes of a pause in rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, although falling oil prices limited gains.

Kenyan police fired tear gas at hundreds of people protesting near parliament on Tuesday against a proposed finance bill that would hike taxes on fuel and housing.

Malaysia's palm oil inventories at the end of May are expected to rise as production swells to its highest so far this year while exports remain flat, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.

Neither President Joe Biden's Democrats nor Republicans in Congress emerged as a clear winner in the battle to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.