Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
German pay policy points to a eurozone design flaw
According to this article by Paul de Grauwe, published Friday 5 May, in spite of the fact that the eurozone is a union of countries which set their monetary policy jointly, wage policies have been characterised by a blatant co-ordination failure.
RBA Statement on Monetary Policy, May 2006
The Reserve Bank of Australia published its May 2006 Statement on Monetary Policy on 5 May. The Australian economy is continuing to benefit from favourable international conditions, according to the report.
Chairman Bernanke's clarity issue
According to this article published Thursday 4 May, while Ben Bernanke is unlikely to make radical changes in the statement issued after the next FOMC meeting, Fed watchers say he could aid his cause by eventually disclosing the central bank's forecasts…
New York Fed's Foreign Exchange Operations Report
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations quarterly report for January-March 2006, published 4 May, the U.S. monetary authorities did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets during…
Weber on forecasting in eurosystem central banks
In the speech 'Forecasting in eurosystem central banks - Overview and challenges' given on 5 May Axel Weber of the Bundesbank said the European Central Bank's economic forecasts will be based on market expectations for interest rates in future, rather…
Central Bank of Bosnia - Annual Report 2004
According to the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Annual Report 2004, the BH economy has continued its growth from the previous period and during 2004 it had a higher growth rate than it had in 2003. Real growth is close to the growth of the…
ECB warns on Sepa timetable
The European Central Bank has issued a raft of amendments to a draft Directive on harmonising payment services in the EU, and warned that any delays in adoption of the rules could wreck the proposed timetable for the introduction of a Single Euro…
Vietnam to issue VND20,000 polymer notes
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will issue VND20,000 polymer notes into circulation from May 17.
ADB says growth depends on oil price fall
The Asian Development Bank has said the rapid growth of the region's economies may only be sustained if there is a decline in global oil prices.
ECB's Gonzalez-Paramo on financial statistics
In the speech 'Financial statistics for a global economy' given on 4 May Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo of the ECB said the global statistical governance for official financial statistics will be guided by the fundamental principles of official statistics…
ECB signals June rate rise
At the ECB's post-meeting press conference, after holding eurozone interest rates unchanged, on Thursday 4 May Jean-Claude Trichet said the Governing Council will exercise strong vigilance in order to ensure that risks to price stability over the medium…
Information & interest rate-setting central banks
The Working Paper "How much information should interest rate-setting central banks reveal?" extends Morris and Shin's model to the case where the central bank must anyway convey some information by setting the interest rate.
Comment: Trichet sounds his warning
After having made it clear that an interest rate increase was highly unlikely, the ECB's monetary policy meeting this week was all about how to signal future rate hikes pencilled in for later this year. Jean-Claude Trichet's message yesterday, 3 May, was…
Fed's Bies on current bank capital and market risk
In the speech 'Supervisory perspective on current bank capital, market risk, and loan product issues' given on 4 May Susan Schmidt Bies of the Federal Reserve said top bank managers must be involved to make sure their institutions' exposure to risks is…
China needs more Volcker and less Greenspan
According to this article published Monday 1 May, China's recent increase in interest rates may have the opposite effect to what was intended. The move may boost the economy, instead of slowing it, it says.
Is the IMF still useful?
IMF reform has been on the policy agenda for a long time. In the last year, however, reform discussions acquired a new sense of urgency, this article by Barry Eichengreen published Thursday 4 May says.
Why India badly needs a new financial regulator
With two of its stock markets now among the world's five most active, India badly needs a modern financial regulator, according to this article published Thursday 4 May.
Europe must relax inflation test for euro entrants
According to this article by Willem Buiter, published Thursday 4 May, forcing eurozone membership candidate countries to meet both an exchange rate criterion and an inflation criterion makes no economic sense.
Bulgarian National Bank - Annual Report 2004
According to the Bulgarian National Bank's Annual Report 2004, economic growth in Bulgaria accelerated to 5.6 per cent in 2004.
SARB Financial Stability Review, March 2006
The South African Reserve Bank published the March 2006 edition of its Financial Stability Review on 3 May. In its latest report the SARB said the global economy continued to expand strongly during the second half of 2005, albeit at a slightly more…
Comment: Global impacts of US monetary policy
A recent ECB working paper finds that emerging markets stock markets returns can be reduced by more than 10% in response to a 100 basis point increase in US monetary policy rates. On average global equity markets fall by 3.8%.
Fed's Bernanke on community revitalization
In the speech 'Community revitalization: Lessons from Anacostia' given on 3 May Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve said reviving economically distressed communities takes teamwork between the government and private developers and a creative vision of…
Ringgit rise 'orderly' says Malaysia
Malaysia has said the strengthening of the ringgit currency to an eight-year high against the dollars is "orderly" and in line with expectations, newspaper reports said.
Exporters should watch Swiss franc says SNB chief
Swiss National Bank president Jean-Pierre Roth said in an interview that Swiss exporters should keep a close eye on the Swiss franc and protect themselves for possible volatility.