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Mercosur sets macroeconomic convergence targets
The Southern Cone Common Market, or Mercosur, on Wednesday announced macroeconomic convergence targets, including fiscal and inflationary goals, top officials said.
IMF says zloty interventions OK to help reserves
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said Poland's central bank could consider foreign exchange intervention to maintain the ratio of foreign reserves to hard currency liabilities.
Bank of Sudan lowers reserves ratio
The governor of the Sudanese central bank, Mr Saber Mohammed Al-Mahdi, said that the Bank had decided to lower the cash reserves ratio in the local commercial banks from 15% to 10%.
Poland upgrading banking laws to EU standards
The Polish government has approved amendments to laws on the banking system and the central bank to upgrade them to European Union standards, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
BoT to ease regulations on e-money settlement
The Bank of Thailand said Wednesday it plans to ease restrictions on interbank electronic money transactions via its Bahtnet settlement system.
Norges Bank leaves key lending rates unchanged
Norges Bank, the Norwegian central bank, left its key lending rates unchanged as expected at Wednesday's regular monetary policy meeting and maintained a neutral stance regarding future decisions.
Dutch ctrl bk sees 2001 CPI 4.2%, a 17-year high
Dutch consumer prices are set to grow 4.2% in 2001, the highest growth level since 1983, the Dutch Central Bank said Wednesday in its quarterly report.
Hungary PM names new finance minister, c.bank head
Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban said on Wednesday he would appoint Mihaly Varga finance minister in place of Zsigmond Jarai, who would become central bank governor as of March 1.
Trial nears for Indonesian central bank governor
The trial of Indonesia's central bank governor over a year-old banking scandal looked imminent after the government said on Wednesday it would hand over documents relating to the case to a court next week.
Nigerian banks urged to strengthen controls
Banks operating in Nigeria have been urged by a former banking supervisor to embrace effective internal controls to safeguard their financial integrity, protect depositors' funds and forestall fraud.
Hanoi eases rules on using land as collateral
Vietnam has relaxed rules governing the use of land rights as collateral to borrow from commercial banks, a move aimed at stimulating investment, a central bank official said on Tuesday.
Canada's dollar - to fix or not -Friedman, Mundell
In an exclusive e-mail exchange arranged by Canada's Financial Post, Nobel Prize-winning economists Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell debate the future of the world currency system, from the euro to the Canadian dollar. This is the second installment in…
ECB's Quaden sees interesting debate on M3 goal
European Central Bank governing council member Guy Quaden said on Tuesday he could live with deviations from the bank's reference value for M3 money supply growth.
Kuwait to study rate changes after moves abroad
Kuwait's central bank, under pressure to cut the discount rate to help the economy and a sagging stock market, said on Tuesday it would decide on changes after studying the impact of expected interest rate cuts abroad.
Romania c.bank head sees 2001 inflation lower
Romania's central bank acting governor Emil Ghizari said on Tuesday inflation was expected to slow down to between 22% to 25% next year from an official estimate of about 40% in 2000.His prediction was in line with previous official forecasts.
US academic applauds S.Africa's monetary policy
A leading Harvard University academic endorsed the South African Reserve Bank's inflation targeting on Tuesday and said the country's monetary policy was in sound health.
Welteke against hasty Emu entry for new members
One day after the signing of the agreement in Nice, Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke has warned against the hasty acceptance of new members into the EU's monetary union.
Slovak cbank to lower reserve requirement in 2001
Some monetary policy instruments of the National Bank of Slovakia will undergo changes in the future, according to vice governor Elena Kohutikova.
Uruguay to see 2% growth in 2001
Uruguay's economy minister said Tuesday he expects the small South American economy to shake two years of recession and economic stagnation and grow by 2% in 2001.
Brazil cbank chief loses cool in Congress hearing
Brazil's master of monetary policy, central bank chief Arminio Fraga, lost his calm demeanor for once on Tuesday in a rare outburst, slamming a left-wing lawmaker who accused the bank of not doing enough to cut interest rates.
Namibia City Savings Investment Bank board sacked
An interim board has been appointed to run the troubled City Savings and Investment Bank (CSIB) whose previous directors angered the Bank of Namibia so much it fired them all.
Failure to reach agreement over ex-Yugo gold
The governors and vice-governors of central banks which emerged after the break-up of the former Yugoslav federation failed to reach an agreement on the distribution of gold and foreign currency reserves at the International Bank for Settlements in Basel…
Manila may cut reserve requirements in January
Philippine central bank governor Rafael Buenaventura said the bank may delay lowering bank reserve requirements until January next year.
Dutch inflation harms competitive position-Wellink
The Netherlands' competitive position is deteriorating due to inflation above the European average and higher wage demands, Dutch central bank president Nout Wellink said in an interview with a Dutch newspaper.