CEE bond purchases, Russia’s containment measures

The policy response across Central and Eastern Europe has become more aggressive over the past few weeks and the region’s central banks have joined a growing list of those that have started purchasing sovereign bonds on the secondary market. Elsewhere, the number of coronavirus cases in Russia is starting to rise sharply and the government is stepping up containment measures to stem the spread of the virus. Whether the number of coronavirus cases increases exponentially from here is anybody’s guess but activity is set to grind to a halt and GDP may fall by more than the 1.5% we expect this year.