Bronwyn Curtis: Unreliable economic data will lead to mistakes by central banks

Likely to do ‘too much’

Central banks are more likely to make mistakes in their monetary policy decisions due to unreliable economic indicators, according to global financial markets economist Bronwyn Curtis.

Speaking at the first day of Investment Week's debut Alternatives Summit, the former head of global research at HSBC and former chief economist at Nomura told delegates she was concerned central banks would do "too much" because leading economic indicators "are not there to give them a heads up".  "How much monetary tightening the central banks have done is having an effect? We do not know that yet because the lags are up to two years. I worry that because their economic data is so much less reliable than usual, they are much more likely to make mistakes," she said.  "I think they wer...