Macroeconomic events of the day | August 17

New Zealand 

The Central bank of New Zealand has introduced a policy to combat high inflation in the country, increasing the interest rate by 0.50 basis points – from 2.5% to 3%. This is the fourth year that the New Zealand central bank has raised interest rates. 

Great Britain

Inflation in the UK reached double digits for the first time in 40 years: consumer prices rose by 10.1% in annual terms in July. Analysts note that the last time inflation in the UK was above 10% was in 1982. Compared to June, consumer prices increased by 0.7%. At the same time, economists predicted an increase in annual inflation to 9.8%.

Eurozone

According to the second estimate of the European statistical agency Eurostat, the GDP of 19 eurozone countries in the second quarter of 2022 grew by 3.9% year-on-year and by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter. Analysts expected growth of 4% in annual terms and 0.7% in quarterly terms.

The United States

According to the US Department of Commerce, the volume of retail sales at the end of July remained at the level of the previous month – 0.8%. At the same time, analysts expected sales to increase by an average of 0.1%. On a monthly basis, sales increased by 0.7% (excluding gasoline and car sales from calculations).

Oil

According to the official report of the US Department of Energy, commercial oil reserves in the country decreased by 7,056 million barrels per week after an increase of 5 million a week earlier.