Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
Testimony of Otmar Issing of the ECB, 20 Mar
TESTIMONY - Issing said in his testimony to the European Parliament that the euro area economy will speed up in the course of the year but inflation would remain subdued. "Recent data point to a recovery starting moderately in early 2002 and accelerating…
German parliament likely to block Buba reform plan
GERMANY - Long standing plans to reform Germany's central bank face a drawback as the Bundesrat upper house of parliament is expected to delay an approval Friday.
Banks tackle RBA in new card twist
AUSTRALIA - The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) says the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has hired a lobbyist to promote credit card reform.
New Dep chairperson appointed at Bank of Lithuania
LITHUANIA - On 21 March the President of the Republic of Lithuania appointed Ms Ramune Zabuliene Deputy Chairperson and Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania for a nine-year term.
Japan slump 'slowing'
JAPAN - The struggling Japanese economy is continuing to deteriorate, but the decline shows signs of slowing down, the country's central bank said on Friday.
Rerngchai fights negligence charge
THAILAND - Former governor of the Bank of Thailand Rerngchai Marakanond yesterday submitted his defence to the Civil Court on charges that he was "severely negligent" in his duties relating to the defence of the baht, causing Bt186 billion in damage to…
Duma appoints new central bank chair
RUSSIA - The Duma approved resignation of Victor Gerashchenko from the post of the Central Bank Chair. Duma deputies also awarded Gerashchenko with an honorable diploma, and Chair of the Duma Gennady Seleznev presented the diploma to him. The Duma…
ECB net profit declines by 8.5% partly on US rates
GERMANY - The European Central Bank Thursday reported a net profit of 1.82 billion euros in 2001, down 8.5% from 1.99 billion euros the preceding year.
Argentine peso falls as c bank gears to sell debt
ARGENTINA - Argentina's peso (ARS) opened weaker Friday as the central bank began selling money-market instruments in pesos and dollars to curb the currency's fall.
Fed discussed dropping its tilt towards rate cuts
US - The Federal Reserve considered "unconventional" actions at its January monetary policy meeting in case its anti-recession campaign did not work and discussed abandoning its official leaning towards cutting short-term interest rates, minutes released…
HKMA Quarterly Bulletin - February 2002
REPORT - The Quarterly Bulletin (QB) carries regular reporting and analyses on the policies of the HKMA's key activities in fulfilling its central banking functions and provides a forum for the HKMA to explain its philosophy and policies, particularly…
Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meetings, 20 March
NEWS RELEASE - At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Bank of Japan decided, by majority vote, to maintain the following guideline for money market operations for the intermeeting period:
Federal Open Market Committee Meeting - Minutes
MINUTES - The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released the minutes of its Federal Open Market Committee Meeting from 29-30 January 2002, released 21 March.
Speech by T Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB, 21 Mar
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'Accession Countries on the Way to the Euro: A Central Banker's View' Padoa-Schioppa said a carefully chosen timeframe for euro adoption by new members after they join the EU would ensure that fighting inflation would not…
Bank of Japan leaves monetary policy unchanged
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday but said that if necessary it would provide extra liquidity to secure financial market stability towards the end of the fiscal year.
Russia's new central bank chief
FEATURE - Promising little change to exchange-rate policy but progress on stalled banking change, Sergei Ignatyev was overwhelmingly elected Russia's Central Bank chief Wednesday by the lower house of parliament.
Swiss nat bank sells 9.4 tons of gold to 20 March
SWITZERLAND - The Swiss National Bank sold around 9.4 metric tons of gold in its latest 10-day reporting period ended 20 March, the central bank's regular statistics report showed Thursday.
Full integration for Poland's c bank in 2003
POLAND - Poland's central bank will be fully integrated with the European Central Banks System in 2003, National Bank of Poland President Leszek Balcerowicz told a Monday briefing.
Banks face loyalty dilemma
FEATURE - With all the fuss about terrorist finance, it's sometimes easy to forget that the argument about how to track dirty money is a very old one indeed.
Malaysian shares up ahead of c bank annual report
MALAYSIA - Malaysian shares closed up Wednesday ahead of the central bank's 2001 annual report release.
Argentina props up ailing peso
ARGENTINA - Argentina's Central Bank is thought to have intervened in the currency markets to support the ailing peso.
Korea's central bank upbeat on growth
SOUTH KOREA - South Korea's central bank has raised its forecast for economic growth in 2002 after a robust performance in the October to December period last year.
India RBI favour forming gold exchange - Dep gov
INDIA - The Reserve Bank of India will favor any industry proposal to form a gold exchange as the idea is "theoretically sound," said RBI Deputy Governor Y.V. Reddy Thursday.