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More hikes ahead - Sweden's Ingves
New Swedish central bank governor, Stefan Ingves, said on Monday 6 February that he expected a continued gradual increase in interest rates. The speech, given at Umea University, was Ingves' first public appearance since his appointment at the start of…
Slovenians happy with Commission's findings
The Slovenia's finance minister and central bank have expressed their satisfaction with the European Commission's upbeat assessment of the country's preparations for joining the euro.
SARB's Mboweni highlights inflation risks
The South African Reserve Bank last week left the repurchase rate unchanged at 7%, but governor, Tito Mboweni, cautioning that robust domestic demand together with oil and food prices posed potential risks to the inflation outlook.
CBK warns illegal lenders
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has issued a statement giving sham microfinance institutions until May to clean up their act or face legal action.
Comment: EMU and market discipline
A recent research note by the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies pours cold water on the idea that Italy could crash out of the European Monetary Union (EMU) any time soon. The key to this conclusion lies in the amount of euro-dominated…
German govt, Bundesbank set for gold clash
A long-simmering squabble between the German government and the Bundesbank over the use of Germany's massive gold reserves may come to the boil again as a result of new legislation drafted by the finance ministry, the Financial Times reported.
Doha conference calls for regional central bank
A two-day conference on enriching the economics of the Middle East region, held in Doha this week, ended with a call for the creation of a regional central bank.
Deutsche Bundesbank adopts SwiftNet FileAct
According to a report on Finextra.com, Deutsche Bundesbank is to adopt SwiftNet FileAct to begin standardizing its communications system for low value payments, bringing its branches in line with Germany's national Real Time Gross Settlement as it…
IMF plans to strengthen financial market work
Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the IMF announced proposals on Wednesday 1 February to strengthen the Fund's financial and capital market work by creating a new department that will be a center of excellence for all aspects of financial, capital…
BoJ to implement next-generation RTGS project
The Bank of Japan said Friday it has decided to implement the next-generation real-time gross settlement (RTGS-XG) project.
New Fed chair has passion for equations
This article published on Thursday 2 February takes an in-depth look at Ben Bernanke. The new Fed chief, it says, wants to strip away some of the mystery of the Fed and come out with an inflation range to aim for over the medium or long term.
Rato at the farewell dinner for Alan Greenspan
In remarks at the farewell dinner for Alan Greenspan on 24 January (published 2 Feb) IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said there are many reasons to envy Alan: not just his economic savvy and ability to move financial markets with a few well-chosen…
Interview with ECB's Bini Smaghi
In a recent interview, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, said that unless private consumption picks up there will be no sustained growth. The high price of oil is an important factor, as it is taking away…
Bies on continuous challenges of risk management
In the speech 'The continuous challenges of risk management' given on 2 February Susan Schmidt Bies of the Federal Reserve said regulators are concerned about heavy commercial real estate exposures and risky mortgage lending practices at U.S. banks.
Bank of Sudan - Annual Report 2003
According to the Bank of Sudan's Annual Report 2003, the year saw a number of economic, financial and monetary developments both on the international and domestic levels.
UK urged to provide more long-term gilts
The UK government should issue more long-term gilts and extend its use of index-linked gilts, investors told the government in an annual consultation meeting on Wednesday 1 February.
Comment: Trichet's new strategy
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), on Thursday 2 February cemented expectations of a 25 basis point rate hike next month. The manner in which he has gone about flagging the move underlines the central bank's new…
BoJ's Muto: Conditions not met for policy shift
Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto said on Thursday 2 February it was still too early to abandon the bank's ultra-loose policy despite recent increases in consumer prices.
BoE legal eagle set to retire
According to the Guardian's City diary, Malcolm Glover would have retired from the Bank of England at the end of 2004 had it not been for the litigation brought by the BCCI liquidators.
Merkel looks to Buba for chief economic advisor
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has recruited a top Bundesbank economist, Jens Weidmann, to advise her in economic matters, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday 1 February.
Draghi flies a different course
Italy has all it needs to resolve its own problems and can look towards a bright future, Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi said on Thursday 2 February. Draghi also emphasised he would take a different approach to that of former governor Antonio Fazio.
Report says Germany may create gold sale fund
Germany may create a special fund for the proceeds of Bundesbank gold sales in a move which could help ease central bank opposition to the sale of part of its huge reserves, according to a draft law quoted by Reuters on Thursday 2 February.
Trichet says rate hike expectations 'reasonable'
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet told a press conference on Thursday 2 February that markets' near-term expectations for ECB interest rates are 'reasonable'.
Canada's Jenkins on global economic trends
In the speech 'Global economic trends: Implications for Canada' given on 1 February Paul Jenkins of the Bank of Canada said the Bank of Canada sees room for "some modest further increase" in interest rates as the economy runs at its production capacity,…