Major easing push starts winding down

Major central banks have delivered interest rate cuts in 2025 at the fastest clip and largest scale since the financial crisis, while easing among policymakers in developing nations also accelerated.

- KARIN STROHECKER AND SUMANTA SEN

Nine of the central banks overseeing the 10 most heavily traded currencies lowered their benchmark lending rates in 2025 — namely the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England but also Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.

They delivered 850 basis points of easing across 32 rate reductions this year — the biggest number of cuts since 2008 and the biggest scale of easing since 2009.

This marks a sharp reversal from 2022 and 2023 when policymakers ramped up rates to combat inflation as energy prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.