How Low Can They Go? Central Bank Policy Easing in 2015

Indonesia's central bank became the 18th to ease monetary policy this year, surprising markets on Tuesday by cutting interest rates in the face of tame inflationary pressures only three months after raising them.

Below is a chronological list of central bank actions taken to counter deflationary pressures stemming largely from collapsing oil prices, or to boost flagging growth:

January 1 - Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan's central bank cuts its refinancing rate to 9 per cent from 10 per cent.

January 7/February 4 - Romania

Romania's central bank cuts its key interest rate by a total of 50 basis points, taking it to a new record low of 2.25 per cent. Most analysts polled by Reuters had expected the latest cut.

January 15 - Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank stuns markets by scrapping the franc's three-year-old exchange rate cap to the euro, leading to an unprecedented surge in the currency. This de facto tightening, however, is in part offset by a cut in the interest rate on certain sight deposit account balances by 0.5 percentage points to -0.75 per cent.

January 15 - India

The Reserve Bank of India surprises markets with a 25 basis point cut in rates to 7.75 per cent and signals it could lower them further, amid signs of cooling inflation and growth struggling to recover from its weakest levels since the 1980s.

January 15 - Egypt

Egypt's central bank makes a surprise 50 basis point cut in its main interest rates, reducing the overnight deposit and lending rates to 8.75 and 9.75 per cent, respectively.

January 16 - Peru

Peru's central bank surprises the market with a cut in its benchmark interest rate to 3.25 per cent from 3.5 per cent after the country posts its worst monthly economic expansion since 2009.

January 20 - Turkey

Turkey's central bank lowers its main interest rate, but draws heavy criticism from government ministers who say the 50 basis point cut, five months before a parliamentary election, is not enough to support growth.

January 21 - Canada

The Bank of Canada shocks markets by cutting interest rates to 0.75 per cent from 1 per cent, where they had been since September 2010, ending the longest period of unchanged rates in Canada since 1950.

January 22 - European Central Bank

The ECB launches a government bond-buying programme which will pump over 1 trillion euros into a sagging E economy starting in March and running through to September next year, and perhaps beyond.

January 24 - Pakistan

Pakistan's central bank cuts its key discount rate to 8.5 per cent from 9.5 per cent, citing lower inflationary pressure due to falling global oil prices. Central Bank Governor Ashraf Wathra says the new rate will be in place for two months, until the next central bank meeting to discuss further policy.

January 28 - Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore unexpectedly eases policy, saying in an unscheduled policy statement that it will reduce the slope of its policy band for the Singapore dollar because the inflation outlook has "shifted significantly" since its last review in October 2014.

January 28 - Albania

Albania's central bank cuts its benchmark interest rate to a record low 2 per cent. This follows three rate cuts last year, the most recent in November.

January 30 - Russia

Russia's central bank unexpectedly cuts its one-week minimum auction repo rate by two percentage points to 15 per cent, a little over a month after raising it by 6.5 points to 17 per cent, as fears of recession mount following the fall in global oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

February 3 - Australia

The Reserve Bank of Australia cuts its cash rate to an all-time low of 2.25 per cent, seeking to spur a sluggish economy while keeping downward pressure on the local dollar.

February 4 - China

China's central bank makes a system-wide cut to bank reserve requirements - its first in more than two years - to unleash a flood of liquidity to fight off economic slowdown and looming deflation.

January 19/22/29/February 5 - Denmark

The Danish central bank cuts interest rates a remarkable four times in less than three weeks, and intervenes regularly in the currency market to keep the crown within the narrow range of its peg to the euro.

February 13 -Sweden

Sweden's central bank cuts its key repo rate to -0.1 per cent from zero where it had been since October, and said it would buy 10 billion Swedish crowns worth of bonds.

February 17 - Indonesia

Indonesia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 7.5 per cent, the first rate cut in three years and surprising all 20 economists in a Reuters poll who had expected no change.