(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was ready to raise interest rates in March and didn’t rule out moving at every meeting
  • A barrage of upcoming data on the U.S. economy, wages and prices is poised to turn up the temperature of an already-heated debate about the persistence of inflation
  • Swaps linked to Fed meeting dates indicate that traders are now pricing in around 30 basis points of tightening at the next central bank gathering in March
• New Zealand inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in more than 31 years, reinforcing bets it will keep raising interest rates
• China’s economy had little to cheer about at the start of the year
• The IMF cut its growth forecast for 2022 as the pandemic enters its third year, citing weaker prospects for the U.S. and China along
• India’s economic momentum remained stable even as the first signs of slowing output growth appeared across some industries
• The last thing Hong Kong wants to do is boost borrowing costs. But that’s exactly what it will be forced to do when the Fed starts hiking
• The Bank of Canada held rates but signaled it will tighten policy in coming weeks to contain the highest inflation in three decades
  • Bloomberg Economics thinks the BoC will stay nimble
• Chile’s central bank delivered its biggest interest rate hike in more than 20 years, signaling renewed urgency to cool inflation
• The ECB has no need to fundamentally change its assessment of the inflation outlook, Governing Council member Gediminas Simkus says
• The top Republican on the Senate Banking panel questioned the geographic and professional backgrounds of President Joe Biden’s Fed picks amid a brewing conflict over diversity at the central bank

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