BOE Needs Workers, Pursuit of Wealth, Poland Rates Hike: Eco Day

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Welcome to Wednesday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• The Bank of England needs one million missing workers to return, as a failure to secure staff threatens to limit the speed of the post-lockdown recovery, while wage inflation helps explain why it’s widely expected to raise interest rates before the U.S. Federal Reserve
• In China, the U.S., Japan, and Germany, younger generations are rethinking the pursuit of wealth
• Poland is poised for a hefty increase in interest rates after a spike in inflation to a two-decade high convinced central bankers that spiraling price growth isn’t transitory.
• City of London workers pared back office time, as they look to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus ahead of the holiday season
• French economic activity will continue to rise in December, despite another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and fresh uncertainty over the omicron variant, according the Bank of France
• Norway is tightening restrictions again to try to regain control of the spread of the omicron variant and prevent an overloading of an hospital system already struggling with other illnesses
• Meanwhile Japan is seeing less than one Covid-19 death a day, as cases plummet to below 100 a day
• Australia is weighing plans for a central bank-issued digital currency alongside the regulation of the crypto market as it seeks to overhaul how the nation’s consumers and businesses pay for goods and services
• India’s central bank kept borrowing costs at a record-low for the ninth straight meeting, amid the omicron variant of coronavirus posing renewed risks to economic recovery globally
• Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya dropped a strong hint that big firms are in less need of funding support, a comment that will likely fuel speculation the BOJ will scale back its pandemic buying of corporate bonds and commercial paper
• The Bank of Canada is expected to keep the spotlight on inflation at its policy decision this week, as it nears the start of an aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes

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With assistance from Bloomberg