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US, China central banks to discuss currency reform
The US has said it hopes to have more discussions this week with China on its currency reforms and ways to reverse the United States' rising trade deficit.
Mersch sees threat to prices from oil
ECB Governing Council member and Luxembourg central bank governor Yves Mersch has said high oil prices are still pushing up inflation.
Comment: IMF on inflation targeting
The IMF's World Economic Outlook, published Wednesday 21 September, makes the contentious assertion that "it does not appear to be necessary" for emerging market economies considering the adoption of fully-fledges inflation targeting, to meet key…
Hurricanes may delay US current account correction
European Central Bank board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said in an interview that costs resulting from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico could mean that the US will be unable to correct its large current account deficit for some time.
BoJ's Nishimura sees no need for liquidity cut
Kiyohiko Nishimura, one of the Bank Japan's nine policy board members, sees no need to end the bank's super-loose monetary policy and cut its liquidity reserve target any time soon even as the country shows signs of pulling out of its deflationary cycle,…
Italian economy minister resigns
Italy's Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco has resigned because of government infighting over the 2006 budget and the administration's failure to oust Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio over a banking scandal, the Treasury said.
St Louis Fed's Central Banker, Fall 2005
The St. Louis Fed's Central Banker magazine for Fall 2005 has been published. In the latest edition Julie Stackhouse, senior vice president of Banking Supervision and Regulation, shares her thoughts about why lenders should engage in prudent risk…
CNB's Frait on negative central bank capital
In the speech 'Exchange rate appreciation and negative central bank capital: Is there a problem?' given on 31 August Jan Frait of the Czech National Bank said the seriousness and potential consequences of negative capital of the central bank depend on…
The political economy of seigniorage
While most economists agree that seigniorage is one way governments finance deficits, there is less agreement about the political, institutional, and economic reasons for relying on it, according to the IMF Working Paper published Tuesday.
Statement by Roger Ferguson on the IMFC meeting
The Financial Stability Forum (FSF) held its fourteenth meeting on 8-9 September 2005 in London. The issues discussed included: risks and vulnerabilities in the international financial system; the resilience of the financial system to shocks and lessons…
IMF World Economic Outlook, September 2005
The IMF published its World Economic Outlook September 2005 on Wednesday 21 September. In the report the Fund said Hurricane Katrina's reach is global, as higher energy prices cast a cloud of uncertainty over a world economy that is otherwise on track…
Is fiscal policy inflationary? Just ask the Fed
This article published on Wednesday 21 September asks whether US fiscal policy is about to upend the bond market? Market participants may well associate bad news on the economy with an increase in fiscal spending and lower bond prices, it says.
New Bank of Israel law agreed
The Israeli government has agreed to the wording of a new Bank of Israel Law that would transfer responsibility for setting interest rates from the central bank governor alone to a monetary committee.
South Africa plans no change to inflation target
Treasury Director General Lesetja Kganyago has said South Africa has no plans to modify its inflation targeting framework to aim for the middle of the established three to six per cent target range.
Liebscher says property prices won't influence ECB
European Central Bank Governing Council member and Austrian Central Bank Governor Klaus Liebscher said in an interview that the ECB would not raise interest rates solely as a result of rising real estate prices in some eurozone countries.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, Sep 2005
According to the firms surveyed for the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey, September 2005, activity in the region's manufacturing sector slowed in September.
Comment: Challenging 'received wisdom'
In delivering the Keynes Lecture in Economics at the British Academy on Tuesday, Bank of England MPC member, Professor Stephen Nickell, set out to refute two major areas of criticism of MPC's track-record over the last five years.
Nickell on practical issues in UK monetary policy
In the speech 'Practical issues in UK monetary policy, 2000-2005' given on 20 September, Stephen Nickell of the Bank of England said the Bank could not have prevented Britain's house-price boom without harming economic growth.
Bank of England's MPC united on rate vote
Minutes from the Bank of England's 7 and 8 September meeting released on Wednesday 21 September showed policy makers voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged.
Is the ringgit ripe for a rise? Market thinks so
While Malaysia has kept a tight grip on the ringgit since the currency's peg against the dollar was abandoned, this article says markets are starting to bet that high inflation could tempt authorities to relax their control.
IMF's clout and relevance wane
As finance ministers and central bankers from around the world gather in Washington this week for the IMF's annual meetings, the organization finds its relevance waning, this article published on Monday 19 September reports. The Fund may need to define a…
'Watershed' yuan revaluation has made few waves
According to this article Wednesday 21 September marked the two-month anniversary of China announcing it was de-linking its currency from the U.S. dollar. But the Chinese currency has barely budged beyond the initial rise of about 2 per cent, it says.
Confidence in stability keeping rates low- Trichet
Interest rates in the Eurozone are at their lowest level thanks to confidence in price stability inspired by ECB policy, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said, in an interview to be published in Le Figaro.
Fed hikes rates again, but Olson dissents
The FOMC decided on Tuesday 20 September to raise its target for the federal funds rate to 3.75%. In a statement it maintained its 'measured' pace for removing policy accommodation and revealed that Mark Olson had voted to keep rates unchanged.