In general, central banks are concerned with keeping the inflation rate stable while also sustaining output close to an efficient level. Under "inflation targeting", forecasts of the evolution of the general price level are an essential input for policy decisions and these are usually released...

Having a correct assessment of current business cycle conditions is one of the major challenges for monetary policy conduct. Given that GDP figures are available with a significant delay central banks are increasingly using Nowcasting as a useful tool for having an immediate perception of...