Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
Global economy to shrink by 0.5-1%: IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again lowered its growth estimates, saying that it now sees a contraction of 0.5% to 1% in global activity.
A labour model for inflation dynamics
A model with sticky nominal wages and right-to-manage bargaining best captures the response of inflation to nominal labour shocks, a new paper from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve posits.
FSA's Turner unveils blueprint for reform
Lord Adair Turner, the chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA), on Wednesday published proposals for fundamental regulatory overhaul of the financial system, which includes a shift in the approach of the industry watchdog, whose…
SA shifts to monthly schedule for rate moves
The South African Reserve Bank's rate-setters are will vote once a month for the remainder of the year after the central bank announced it was doubling the frequency of its meetings for 2009.
King moots Glass-Steagall revival
Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has called for a debate on whether the global financial crisis has shown that a Glass-Steagall type provision is needed to prevent retail deposits from being used to fund investment-banking activities.
Fed to buy Treasuries
The Federal Open Market Committee said on Thursday that it will buy up to $300 billion in Treasuries and an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities. It will also invest an additional $100 billion in agency debt.
Bring back Glass-Steagall?
Suddenly, everybody is talking again about separating merchant banking from commercial banking. Ideas that a few months ago might have been dismissed as crackpot - bringing back a version of the Glass-Steagall legislation - now look as if they were ahead…
Sri Lanka keeps on cutting
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka slashed its policy rate by 175 basis points to 14.75% on Wednesday in an effort to encourage lending and revive economic activity.
Phillips curve remains an enigma
The understanding of what underlies the correlation between unemployment and the inflation rate is constantly changing, a new paper from the Richmond Federal Reserve.
BoE unanimous on March decision
The minutes from the March meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee show members voted unanimously to cut bank rate by 50 basis points to a fresh all-time low of 0.5% and to buy £75 billion-worth ($104.8 billion) of assets using central…
Buba's Weber: no surprise states keen on euro
It is no wonder that many of those in small boats are seeking to dock in the large ship European economic and monetary union (EMU), said Axel Weber, the president of the Bundesbank.
RBA on why it kept policy rate unchanged
The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to "pause for a further evaluation" of the economic situation and so leave the cash rate unchanged at 3.25%, according to minutes of the March meeting.
Fullani highlights main risks to Albania
The drop-off in remittances and a tightening of financing conditions are the main threats from the global crisis to the Albanian economy, said Adrian Fullani, the governor of the country's central bank.
Basel II procyclical: Norges Bank
Basel II introduces an additional source of procyclicality into the banking sector, a new paper from Norges Bank finds.
South Africa's Mnyande: no time to sit and wait
Strengthening southern Africa's ability to prevent future crises is vital, Monde Mnyande, the chief economist of the South African Reserve Bank, has warned.
Central banks join the flight to quality
The financial turmoil has had a major impact on central banks' reserve-management policies.
Italy's Draghi calls on banks to raise capital
Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, has urged the country's banks to increase their capital ratios to shore up confidence in the financial sector.
Serbian governor contradicts Belgrade on EU aid
Radovan Jelasic, the governor of the National Bank of Serbia, has said that central and eastern European states should avoid over-reliance on European Union (EU) aid just hours after it emerged that Belgrade was seeking assistance from Brussels.
How the US can abate anger at bankers' bail-out
Brendan Brown, the chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, offers two remedies to temper public outrage at the bail-out of Wall Street.
BoJ pledges up to 1 trn in subordinated loans
The Bank of Japan is to offer its banks subordinated loans worth up to 1 trillion ($10.1 billion) to bolster its banking sector, crippled by the recent slump in equity prices.
AIG succumbs to political will, names recipients
In a surprise move, American International Group (AIG), a beleaguered insurer, has revealed the recipients of $105.3 billion-worth of federal funds after coming under intense pressure from politicians to do so.
New measures for housing inflation needed
Policymakers lack appropriate measures of inflation for the market in owner-occupied housing services, argues a new paper form the Philadelphia Federal Reserve.
Policy can make deflationary episodes more costly
The costs of previous deflationary episodes have been exacerbated by inappropriate policy responses, a new paper from the Bank of England posits.
Fiji's Narube on productivity
Fiji's rate of productivity is extremely disappointing, said Savenaca Narube, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.