Gloomy Central Banks, PBOC Policy, Why RBA is Chillaxed: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Happy Friday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• China’s economy is facing increasing downward pressure, and monetary policy will continue to be supportive, People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said. Here’s a look at the nation’s 40-year transformation from impoverished and isolated backwater to global economic superpower
• Sydney property prices are tumbling and yet Australia’s central bank is remaining cool. Why? Meanwhile, markets have been signaling a very slim chance of an RBA rate cut for the past week in a significant reversal
• Central bankers’ concerns about 2019 were on display yesterday as they warned the global economy may be entering a period of great uncertainty
• Mario Draghi said risks to the euro-area economy are worsening even as he called time on the ECB’s flagship deflation-fighting tool. The bank extended its window for reinvesting bonds held under its QE program, giving itself one year instead of three months to make purchases
• The Bank of France trimmed its growth forecasts and warned of major uncertainties as it expects the Yellow Vests protests to drag on output
• The Reserve Bank of India’s board meets with much of the hostility of the past two months with the government having eased, but new worries emerging about the central bank’s independence
• President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Fed may hold a silver lining for Chairman Jerome Powell: preserving unity among colleagues who can sometimes go rogue. Meantime, the U.S. just posted the widest November budget deficit on record as spending doubled revenue

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Chris Bourke

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