Opinion
ECB chiefs wife stirs Middle east passions
ARTICLE - When Gretta Duisenberg hung a Palestinian flag from her balcony, her neighbour wrote her a polite complaint. When she agreed to head an organization called "Stop the Occupation," the criticism grew louder.
A government move to clean up loans backfires
ARTICLE - China's four asset-management companies are supposed to be the cutting edge of the government's strategy to clean up the banking system. They may, in fact, end up doing more harm than good--by posing a threat to the health of the body that…
Central bankers do it their way
ARTICLE - It is as well that central bank actions are not co-ordinated. The US Federal Reserve has a clear bias towards stimulus and preventive action, as its half-point cut in interest rates this week shows.
Duisenberg should stop suffocating Europe
ARTICLE - In the autumn of 1998, amid the storm of the Asian crisis, Europe's central bankers referred to Europe as an "island of stability". They were roundly criticised by their US friends who felt that the world economy was enduring its worst…
Following the Fed
ARTICLE - The Federal Reserve has its foot over the gas pedal. An attempt today to speed up the US economy seems almost certain; rarely does the Fed send signals to the financial markets that it is about to cut interest rates, only to disappoint. Whether…
Dislodging the Fed Fantasy
ARTICLE - One of the absurd ideas that took hold in the late 1990s was that the Federal Reserve, presided over by the almost-infallible Alan Greenspan, had essentially conquered the business cycle.
BOJ must set inflation target to prompt growth
ARTICLE - As the government's effort to end the bad-debt quandary is apparently shifting into a higher gear, concerns are growing that accelerated bad-loan write-offs could worsen, at least in the short term, the deflation that is sapping Japan's…
Banking Bunkum
ARTICLE - The Asia Times takes a look at central banks and suggests they have similar characteristics to libraries, where books and money serve the same purpose. They also tell us that ex Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker once said "central bankers…
Last chance for the single financial market
ARTICLE - Tuesday's European Union finance ministers' meeting is a test of their seriousness about creating a single European financial market. They have a choice. If they are wise, they will build an EU system of financial regulation that draws strength…
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature, CentralBankNet looks at the prospects for interest rates. The Bank of England, ECB and Federal Reserve all convene their respective committee's this week for regular monetary policy meetings and there is a…
Europe's best defence against deflation
ARTICLE - Many people are worried about deflation. Severe deflation, as in the early 1930s, is catastrophic; mild deflation, as in Japan today, could become self-reinforcing. There are, moreover, similarities between early 1990s Japan and parts of Europe…
The Fed should cut next week
ARTICLE - The US economy is growing around trend, unemployment is at its lowest post-recession peak for decades, the housing market is firing on all cylinders - and the financial markets are expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to a 40…
Rand defence
ARTICLE - Tito Mboweni, South Africa's Reserve Bank governor, is taking the defence of his country's currency to new lengths. On Friday, Mboweni donned military regalia for his appointment as an honorary colonel of the 1st South African Tank Regiment.
Importance of risk management stressed
ARTICLE - The risk management in Islamic banking is vital in the rapidly growing segment of the global economic industry, Mahnaz Bahrami, the senior economist for research and policy at the Central Bank of Iran, has said.
Single currency a stable solution
ARTICLE - A common currency would bring more security to everyone in the Asia-Pacific region an article in the Australian Financial Review, 27 September claimed.
Commission to assess benefits for UK's euro entry
ARTICLE - Eleven of the world's leading economists will serve on a new commission to consider the consequences for Britain's economy of a decision to reject membership of the euro.
AGCC reaffirms switchover plan to single currency
ARTICLE - Governors of AGCC central banks have reaffirmed their commitment to introducing a common currency for the six-member Arab states, as Gulf economies are gradually embracing the idea of globalisation and financial sector liberalisation.
China's first gold exchange opens for trade
ARTICLE - The opening of China's first gold exchange on Wednesday in Shanghai signals the end of 50-plus years of government monopoly over the gold market.
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature CentralBankNet looks at the furore surrounding recent comments from the EC President. Fur has been flying in all directions after Romano Prodi fired a broadside at the EU's Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). …
Japan's economy is not that sick
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, UK edition, 28 October, on Japan's economic problems and a potential solution.
House boom 'should not deter Bank' from rate cut
ARTICLE - The house price boom should no longer stand in the way of a cut in interest rates, according to Stephen Nickell, the longest-serving external member on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
Banks can park funds in infrastructure projects
ARTICLE - If the brief for a central bank is to guarantee liquidity in a milieu of low inflation and high forex reserves, the RBI can be said to have done more than its bit. On the supply side, RBI has been able to manage a dipping interest regime over…
Britain would be stupid to join the euro
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, UK edition, 22 October, from Theresa Villiers MEP.