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Alan Greenspan on energy prices and the economy
SPEECH - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan gave a speech before the Economic Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois on 28 June titled Impact of energy on the economy.
Computer law to fight bank fraud
US - The House Financial Services Committee approved legislation on 27 June that encourages regulators to link computer systems to help crack down on financial fraud.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary meets ECB President
GERMANY - Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Mr Antony Leung, held talks on 27 June with the President of the European Central Bank, Mr Willem Duisenberg.
Lithuanian c-bank to switch some reserves to euro
LITHUANIA - Lithuania's central bank said on 28 June it would "soon" start exchanging some of its reserves into euro to prepare for the change of the national currency's anchor to the euro from the dollar in February.
Bank of Canada outsources 500 jobs
CANADA - The Bank of Canada said on 27 June it has hired Electronic Data Systems Corp. to help run a program that sells Canada Savings Bonds and other types of debt to the public, cutting the central bank's payroll by a third.
US rate cut to deter Thai outflows - Thai c.bank
THAILAND - The Thai central bank said on 28 June that the Federal Reserve's latest cut in U.S. interest rates would help deter the capital outflows from Thailand.
Raiding the central bank to pay the deficit, Egypt
ARTICLE - The official figures issued for the budget deficit only tell part of the story about the state of Egypt's finances. A close look at the pattern of government debt over the past three years suggests that the actual fiscal deficit has been in the…
Mobile phone plan may hasten cashless society
EUROPE - The FT in London reports on 28 June that three major mobile phone manufacturers are negotiating with leading banks so that mobile phones can be made to act as a type of creidt card.
IMF - Quiet caution for Argentina's currency shift
ARTICLE - Centralbanknet's report on the IMF's Stanley Fischer who has visited Argentina. He has warned that the planned Argentine currency move may set a worrying precedent.
Comment on the Fed's rate cut decision
UK - The Financial Times in London, 28 June, has published a comment on the US Federal Reserve Board's decision to cut it's key interest rate measure by 0.25 percent.
Bank of England - Financial Stability Review
RESEARCH - On 28 June the Bank of England published the latest Financial Stability Review for June 2001. The review contains five articles and the Bank's regular half-yearly assessment of risks to stability.
Interest rate moves around the world
FEATURE - Yesterday, 27 June, the Federal Reserve reduced key US interest rates for the sixth time this year. Here we feature other recent interest rates moves around the world (among the other big central banks the Bank of England has held it's rate…
Federal Reserve cuts rates, by less than expected
US - Alan Greenspan, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman and Federal Reserve governors, ended a two-day meeting yesterday, 27 June, by reducing interest rates, but only by a quarter of a percentage point, instead of the half-point cut that some…
Comparing measures of core inflation
RESEARCH - Todd E. Clark, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has published an article in the Bank's Second Quarter 2001 Economic Review. The research compares five different measures of core CPI inflation.
London sees change in foreign central bank rep's
UK - The last year has seen big changes in the representation of foreign central bank's in London with nine new faces.
Bank of France to cut jobs at banknote facilities
FRANCE - The Bank of France yesterday informed unions of 494 job cuts by 2005 in its banknote production units. The plan, aimed at bringing down the cost of banknote production to improve competitiveness, mainly affects facilities at Chamalieres and Vic…
New limited company for cash handling in Norway
NORWAY - Norges Bank, Den norske Bank ASA, Gjensidige Nor Sparebank, SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS, Terra-Gruppen AS, Fokus Bank ASA and Nordlandsbanken ASA have founded a joint limited company for cash handling.
IMF appoints representative to Bulgaria
BULGARIA - Piritta Sorsa has been appointed as IMF's resident representative to Bulgaria.
NBER - US 'recession' may already have peaked
ARTICLE - In a letter to the editor of the Financial Times in London, Martin Feldstein, President of the National Bureau of Economic Research in the US says that even if a recession occurs it will be a long time before it becomes official.
History of recessions contradicts Greenspan
ARTICLE - David Leonhardt, writing in the New York Times, says that Federal Reserve Board Governor, Alan Greenspan, is wrong to be optimistic about the prospects for the US economy.
Fed set for fresh rate cut - but by how much?
US - The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will announce today, 27 June, whether it has decided to cut interest rates further to boost the flagging American economy.
Regulator unveils Japan bank stock buying fund
JAPAN - Japan's top financial regulator on 26 June unveiled plans for a fund to soak up massive amounts of shares owned by banks to cut their exposure to an uncertain stock market, giving Japan's economic reforms a nudge forward.
World Bank internet success
US - Nearly two thousand people have logged on to the World Bank's online conference on development economics.
Blair meets Prodi to discuss euro
ARTICLE - Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister, held an hour-long breakfast meeting on 25 June to discuss the single currency with Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission.