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Hayami rules out early quantitative easing steps
Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Jan. 23 that an instruction issued to bank executives to study ways to boost liquidity in the nation's money market does not mean the central bank will take additional quantitative monetary easing measures any time…
Duisenberg gets chief adviser at ECB
The European Central Bank has appointed Olaf Sleijpen chief adviser of Wim Duisenberg, president of the bank. Sleijpen starts on April 1, 2001. Sleijpen is a 30-year old departmental director of the general secretariat of the Dutch central bank. He also…
Sylvia Piterman leaves Bank of Israel
Sylvia Piterman, who has worked at the Bank of Israel for over 25 years,and almost 10 of those years as Director of the Foreign CurrencyDepartment, will be leaving the bank in the very near future. Following herdeparture Mr. Barry Topf will become Acting…
Mini interview with Austria's Klaus Liebscher
Following is a summary of the Market News International interview with European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member and Austrian National Bank Governor Klaus Liebscher that was conducted on Jan. 22.
Fed's liquidity date change efforts
The Fed's efforts to provide liquidity around the century date change likely had a stabilizing effect on the financing markets.
US welfare reform: progress and prospects
Following a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York October 2000 "Welfare reform, four years later: progress and propects", preliminary drafts of papers are now available from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Research and Market Analysis…
What Drives Productivity Growth?
Kevin J. Stiroh considers the debate on the best way to explain the sources of productivity growth in a forthcoming Economic Policy Review for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
IMF concludes Article IV consultation with Panama
On Jan 22, 2001 the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Panama. Below is the Public Information Notice issued by the IMF. The IMF points out the slowing growth rate of Panana, but recognise…
Japanese interest rates held at 0.25%
At the Monetary Policy Meeting held Jan 19, the Bank of Japan decided, by majority vote, to maintain the uncollateralized overnight call rate at an average of around 0.25%.
Mexican cbank governor outlines monetary policy
The governor of the Bank of Mexico, Guillermo Ortiz Martinez, has submitted a preview of the Monetary Policy Programme for 2001 and has confirmed an aggressive tightening of the money supply by managing short-term benchmark interest rates and bank…
Venezuela: Crawling pegged rate system retained
According to a Venezuela Online News web site on Jan. 17, the Central Bank of Venezeula (BCV) has indicated that it will maintain the band system in currency exchange in order to control the depreciation of the bolivar. The bolivar will thus remain…
Core principles for payment systems up for comment
The final reports on the CPSS "Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems" and the joint CPSS/IOSCO consultative report on the "Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems" have now been published. Both reports are available on the…
Japan's RTGS to go live Jan 4 as planned
The Bank of Japan said Jan 2 it would launch its new real-time gross settlement system for bond and money market trading on Thursday, as planned. The BOJ made the announcement after earlier conducting a last-minute systems test to make sure all…
China central bank researchers urge wide yuan band
Researchers at China's central bank are urging a sharply wider trading range for the yuan of 10 to 15 percent up or down, the first time anyone connected to the bank has offered a specific band width for the Chinese currency.
Philippine c.bank to tap its forex reserves
The Philippine Central Bank said it will tap its foreign-exchange reserves to pay maturing obligations in the first half of 2001. At the same time, the central bank said it will postpone indefinitely a plan to borrow funds from a group of local and…
US in economic slowdown but far from recession-IMF
The International Monetary Fund has said that the United States is facing a slowdown in growth that will curb the global economic expansion. But the US economy is far from a recession and is nowhere near contracting, added the IMF's first deputy managing…