Central banks worldwide have slashed interest rates in recent months, providing in some cases unprecedented amounts of stimulus to help soften the blow to the global economy from the coronavirus pandemic and to keep markets functioning.
Interest rates set by the central banks listed are their usual benchmark policy rates unless stated otherwise.
Asset purchases, or quantitative easing (QE), are cited as a brief overview of announced intended amounts. This item does not attempt to list all of what are in some cases large numbers of smaller policy announcements.
For a separate FACTBOX outlining the policy response in major economies, including fiscal policy:
MAJOR GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS
Country Policy Current Date Latest Quantitative easing/asset purchases/
rate rate change/decision market liquidity operations
United Fed funds 0.00-0.2 March 3 -50 bps Buying unlimited quantities of U.S.
States target 5 March 15 -100 bps Treasuries, mortgage-backed and agency
securities after initially announcing
an additional $700 billion
Buying municipal bonds, corporate
bonds and ETFs
Dollar swap lines set up with several
major central banks
$2.3 trillion in loan arrangements for
local governments, small and mid-sized
businesses
Offers to buy bonds of up to three
years' duration from counties with as
few as 500,000 residents and cities
with as few as 250,000 residents
Euro zone TLTRO rate -1.00 March 12 -25bps 750 billion euros in additional asset
No change to main purchases, taking the total to about
-0.50% deposit 1.1 trillion euros this year, after
rate or 0% refi initially adding 120 billion euros to
rate its existing asset-purchase programme
Removes cap on how much in bonds it
-25 bps may buy from any euro zone member
country
April 30 Launches a new loan scheme called
Pandemic Emergency Longer-Term
Refinancing Operations or PELTROs
Increases the size of its Pandemic
Emergency Purchase Programme to 1.35
trillion euros from 750 billion euros
and extends it until June 2021 at
least
Britain Bank Rate 0.10 March 11 -50 bps 200 billion pounds of additional asset
March 19 -15 bps purchases
Reduces capital buffer requirement for
banks
Will buy investment-grade commercial
paper with maturities up to 12 months
Increases bond-buying programme by 100
billion pounds
Japan Interest -0.10 March 16 No change to -0.1% Planned annual increase in the Bank's
on excess short-term rate or government bond holdings held at 80
reserves around 0% JGB trillion yen
10-year yield
target 2 trillion yen of commercial paper and
corporate bonds to be bought by
September, temporarily lifts target
for annual purchases of ETFs to 12
trillion yen
Introduces new lending facility worth
8 trillion yen
Pledges to buy unlimited amounts of
bonds; will boost three-fold the
maximum amount of corporate bonds and
commercial debt it buys to 20 trillion
yen; other steps
Launches its own version of the U.S.
Federal Reserve's "Main Street"
lending programme to channel nearly
$280 billion to small businesses
Extends to March 2021 emergency relief
announced in March and April
Extends deadline for virus-combating
steps by six months
Offers to pump 1.7 trillion yen into
the economy under its lending scheme
Canada Overnight 0.25 March 4 -50 bps To buy C$5 billion of government
target March 13 -50 bps securities weekly
rate March 27 -50 bps
Eligible collateral for term repo
operations expanded
Launches C$50 billion insured mortgage
purchase programme; C$10 billion
credit support programme for
businesses
China 1-year 3.85 Feb 20 -10 bps Lowers 1-year medium-term lending
Loan Prime facility (MLF) rate on loans to
Rate April 20 -20 bps financial institutions to 2.95% from
3.15%
Cuts the amount of cash that small
banks must hold as reserves by 50 bps
to 6.50%, releasing around 400 billion
yuan
Cuts 7-day reverse repo rate to 2.20%
from 2.40%
Cuts 5-year LPR by 10 bps to 4.65%
from 4.75%
Lowers the 1-year interest rate on its
targeted medium-term lending facility
(TMLF) by 20 bps to 2.95% from 3.15%
Australia Cash rate 0.25 March 3 -25 bps Government bond purchases, targeting
March 19 -25 bps around 0.25% for 3-year yields
A$15 billion purchases of residential
mortgage-backed and other asset-backed
securities
A$90 billion funding facility to banks
at fixed rate of 0.25%
New Zealand Overnight 0.25 March 16 -75 bps To buy up to NZ$30 billion worth of
Cash Rate government bonds. Also will buy up to
NZ$3 billion of local government debt
Doubles the amount of bonds it will
buy as part of its quantitative easing
programme and says negative interest
rates will become an option in the
future
Norway Policy 0.00 March 13 -50 bps Central bank offers cheap loans to
rate March 20 banks and financial institutions
-75 bps
May 7
-25 bps
Sweden Repo rate 0.00 March 16 No change Central bank offers 500 billion crowns
in loans to companies via banks and
boosts its purchases of securities by
300 billion crowns
Expands asset purchase programme to
500 billion crowns and extends its
duration to the end of June 2021
Switzerland Policy -0.75 March 19 No change Sets up refinancing facility for
rate unlimited supply of credit to banking
system
OTHER G20 CENTRAL BANKS
Russia Policy 4.50 April 24 -50 bps
rate
June 19 -100 bps
India Repo rate 4.00 March 27 -75 bps Targeted long-term repo operations and
other regulatory measures for banks
May 22 -40 bps worth up to 500 billion rupees
Cuts reverse repo rate 40 bps to 3.35%
Opens a special liquidity facility of
up to 500 billion rupees to help
mutual funds cope with liquidity
strain
Indonesia 7-day 4.25 Feb. 20 -25 bps Cuts reserve requirement ratio by 200
reverse March 19 bps for conventional banks and 50 bps
repurchase -25 bps for Islamic banks, both to 3.50%,
rate June 18 tweaks liquidity rules, effective May
-25 bps 1
Brazil Selic rate 2.25 March 18 -50 bps Announces 1.2 trillion reais of
liquidity, credit and capital measures
May 6 -75 bps
June 17 -75 bps
South Korea Base rate 0.50 March 16 -50 bps -25 Central bank sets up plan for
bps brokerages to borrow funds against
May 28 collateral that includes AA- rated
corporate bonds
Raises the ceiling for its special
loans programme by 5 trillion won to
35 trillion won
South Repo rate 3.75 March 19 -100 bps Will buy South African government
Africa bonds on the secondary market
April 14 -100 bps
May 21 -50 bps
Mexico Overnight 5.00 March 20 -50 bps Announces liquidity and credit steps
target worth $31 billion, cuts rates on its
rate additional ordinary liquidity
facility, reduces by 50 billion pesos
April 21 -50 bps in total private banks' reserve
requirement
May 14 -50 bps
June 25 -50 bps
Turkey 1-week 8.25 March 17 -100 bps Central bank doubles limit for bond
repo rate buying this year to 10% of total
April 22 -100 bps central bank assets. Extends 60
billion lira worth of rediscount
May 21 -50 bps credits and adds more lending options
well below its 9.75% policy rate
Saudi Repo rate 1.00 March 3 -50 bps Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority sets
Arabia March 16 up 50 billion riyal package to help
-75 bps SMEs
Provides 50 billion riyals to support
liquidity in the banking sector
OTHER WORLD CENTRAL BANKS
Armenia Refinancin 4.50 March 17 -25 bps
g rate
April 28 -25 bps
June 16 -50 bps
Bahrain 1-week 1.00 March 16 -75 bps Cuts overnight lending ratio to 1.70%
deposit from 2.45%
rate
Chile Monetary 0.50 March 16 -75 bps
Policy March 31
Rate -50 bps
Colombia Interventi 2.50 March 27 -50 bps Adds nearly 30 trillion pesos of
on Rate liquidity, including reductions in
April 30 -50 bps reserve requirements, debt purchases
and repos
May 29 -50 bps
June 30 -25 bps
Czech 2-week 0.25 March 16 -50 bps
Republic repo rate March 26
-75 bps
May 7
-75 bps
Egypt Overnight 10.25 March 16 -300 bps
lending
rate
Ghana MPC Rate 14.50 March 18 -150 bps
Hong Kong Base Rate 0.86 March 4 -50 bps Cuts financial institutions' reserve
March 16 requirements to 1% from 2% of
-64 bps risk-weighted assets, estimated to be
worth HK$500 billion
Hungary Base rate 0.75 April 28 No change to main Began bond-buying and mortgage bond
base rate purchases on May 4 without any set
target amount
June 23 -15 bps
Iceland Deposit 1.00 March 11 -50 bps Announces asset purchases, cuts
rate March 18 capital reserve buffer to 0% from 2%,
-50 bps sets up credit facility to offer
May 20 collateralised loans to banks
-75 bps
Israel BOI 0.10 April 6 -15 bps Expands repo transactions to include
Interest corporate bonds; will provide loans to
Rate banks to increase credit to SMEs for 5
billion shekels
Jordan CBJ Main 2.50 March 4 -50 bps Cuts compulsory reserves for
Rate March 16 commercial banks to 5% from 7%, worth
-100 bps more than 500 million dinars of
liquidity
Kazakhstan Base rate 9.50 April 3 -250 bps
Kenya Central 7.00 March 23 -100 bps Cuts cash reserve ratio for commercial
Bank rate banks to 4.25% from 5.25%, releasing
April 29 -25 bps an extra 35.2 billion shillings;
triples duration of repurchase
agreement transactions with banks to
90 days
Malaysia Overnight 1.75 March 3 -25 bps Cuts statutory reserve ratio by 100
policy bps to 2.00%, releasing 30 billion
rate May 5 -50 bps ringgit
July 7 -25 bps Announces steps to release an
estimated 16 billion ringgit of
liquidity into the banking system from
May 16
Mongolia Policy 9.00 April 13 -100 bps
Interest
Rate
Morocco Policy 1.50 March 17 -25 bps
rate
June 16 -50 bps
Namibia Lending 4.25 April 15 -100 bps
rate
Nigeria Lending 12.5 May 28 -100 bps
rate
Pakistan SBP Policy 7.00 March 17 -75 bps
Rate
March 24 -150 bps
April 16
-200 bps
May 15
-100 bps
June 25
-100 bps
Peru Reference 0.25 March 19 -100 bps Announces short-term loans to private
rate April 9 pension fund managers to help ease the
-100 bps compliance with savings withdrawal law
Philippines RRP Rate 2.25 Feb. 6 -25 bps Reserve requirement ratio cut by 200
March 19 bps to 12%
-50 bps
April 16 Rates on the overnight deposit and
-50 bps lending facilities reduced to 1.75%
June 25 and 2.75%, respectively
-50 bps
Poland Reference 0.10 March 17 -50 bps Government bond purchases
rate April 8
May 28 -50 bps
-40 bps
Qatar Repo rate 1.00 March 16 -50 bps
Romania Policy 1.75 March 20 -50 bps Narrows corridor between lending and
rate deposit facilities, provides liquidity
to banks via repo transactions,
purchases leu-denominated debt on
secondary market
May 29 -25 bps
Serbia NBS 1.25 March 11 -50 bps
Interest
Rates April 9 -25 bps
June 11 -25 bps
Sri Lanka Standing 6.50 March 16 -25 bps Cuts its bank rate, the emergency
Lending April 3 funding rate for commercial banks, to
Facility -25 bps 10%, an effective 500-bps reduction
Rate May 6
-50 bps
Taiwan Policy 1.125 March 19 -25 bps T$200 billion for banks to support
rate SMEs
Thailand 1-day 0.50 Feb 5 -25 bps Will provide soft loans worth 500
repurchase March 20 billion baht plus a loan payment
rate -25 bps holiday to help SMEs; sets up
May 20 corporate bond stabilisation fund
-25 bps worth 400 billion baht and another to
provide liquidity for mutual funds;
government bond purchase programme
amounting to more than 100 billion
baht during 13-20 March 2020
Uganda Central 7.00 April 6 -100 bps
Bank rate
June 8 -100 bps
Ukraine NBU policy 6.00 March 13 -100 bps
rate April 23
-200 bps
June 11
-200 bps
Uzbekistan Policy 15.00 April 14 -100 bps
rate
Vietnam Refinancin 5.00 March 17 -100 bps
g rate
(Compiled by Reuters Polls; Editing by Alison Williams)
