Go On, Jump. A Pile of Soft Dollars Will Catch You
Central banks in Indonesia and the Philippines took a bold move to cut rates, largely thanks to a weaker greenback.
A soft landing.
Photographer: Bettmann/Bettmann
The economic recovery from the coronavirus will have its share of false dawns. What’s unlikely to be derailed, however, is the wall of money sloshing through the global financial system, much of it courtesy of the Federal Reserve. Without this backstop, officials in Asia wanting to juice domestic growth wouldn’t have a prayer.
Surprise interest-rate cuts late Thursday in Indonesia and the Philippines, both coronavirus hotspots mired in deep recessions, owe as much to Washington as they do to local conditions. Each shaved its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point, bucking the consensus forecast among economists of a hold.