The central banks’ super week

When the Fed and other central banks gather to set interest rates, the global economy is affected. But inflation is shaped by more than interest rates alone, writes Gernot Doppelhofer in Dagens Næringsliv. Photo: Siv Dolmen / Wikimedia Commons
When the Fed and other central banks gather to set interest rates, the global economy is affected. But inflation is shaped by more than interest rates alone, writes Gernot Doppelhofer in Dagens Næringsliv. Photo: Siv Dolmen / Wikimedia Commons

18 March 2026 13:20

The central banks’ super week

Four of the world’s most important central banks are setting interest rates this week. But inflation is not determined by them alone, writes Gernot Doppelhofer in Dagens Næringsliv.

This week is a rare event in the global economy – and, for macroeconomists, something of a treat. Four of the world’s most important central banks are holding rate-setting meetings almost simultaneously: the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England.

When several of the world’s heavyweights set interest rates so close together, they can help shape the course of the global economy. Rate decisions determine the price of money and thereby the conditions for investment, the housing market, exchange rates and the labour market.

In short, they influence the direction of the world economy.

That is why many assume that central banks also control inflation. But this is where much of the political debate goes wrong. The message is often simple: leave inflation to the central banks. But central banks do not control inflation on their own.

Reality is far more complicated.

Op-ed first published in Norwegian, Dagens Næringsliv, March 17.