Monetary Policy
FOMC minutes show split on bond purchases
Minutes from latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting shows board members disagreed over introducing another bond-buying programme to boost the economy
RBA’s Lowe offers views on economic path for 2012
Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor sets out thoughts on the country's economic position in 2012
Fed official reports on success of dollar swap lines
Steven Kamin, director of the Division of International Finance at the Fed, tells Senate committee currency swap lines have helped ease dollar funding market; stresses agreements are risk-free
BoE sees strong possibility of inflation undershooting its target
Bank of England February Inflation Report shows inflation in UK is more likely to be below than above its 2% inflation target over the next three years
Lockhart admits Fed timescale for raising rates could change
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president Dennis Lockhart says FOMC statement anticipating low federal funds rate levels until at least late 2014 was conditional on economic conditions
Parliamentary committee calls for Kenyan governor to resign
Parliamentary Select Committee finds governor's "conduct and behaviour incompatible with the holder of the office of governor of the Central Bank of Kenya"; calls for resignation
Fed’s Plosser warns against ‘accelerationist’ policy
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia says approach that calls for monetary policy to do more to get to objectives faster must be avoided
BoE’s King explains continuing high inflation
Mervyn King writes to chancellor of the exchequer explaining why inflation remains above target; despite 0.6% drop in rate since December, governor must offer reasons for missed target
Japan 'clarifies' monetary policy stance amid criticism
Bank of Japan again increases size of asset purchase programme and sets an inflation target; follows political pressure that Japan is sending the message deflation is acceptable
Riksbank submits proposal to transfer allocation of profit to Treasury
Swedish central bank plans to transfer Skr7.5 billion to Treasury; full plan to be revealed at end of March
Japanese public offers opinions on economic conditions
Bank of Japan publishes results from most recent public opinion survey; many expect to see economic conditions worsen in next 12 months
SF Fed’s Williams supports buying-up mortgage-backed securities
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president John Williams says restarting the Fed’s programme of purchasing mortgage-backed securities is the best way to boost the US economy
ECB approves collateral eligibility criteria of seven Eurosystem central banks
European Central Bank leaves interest rates unchanged but confirms plans to relax collateral criteria for credit claims at seven Eurosystem central banks, including Banque de France
BoE boosts QE by £50 billion
Bank of England increases the size of its Asset Purchase Programme to £325 billion as forecasts show inflation in the UK is likely to undershoot its target in the medium term
Brazil deputy governor positive about economic future
Aldo Mendes says Brazil is prepared to face global economic deterioration; expects to see final growth figure of 3% for 2011 announced soon
Former BoE policy-makers discuss QE and financial repression
Andrew Sentance joins Fathom Monetary Policy Forum for the first time; joins Rachel Lomax and Ian Plenderleith to discuss quantitative easing and financial repression
The Fed’s flawed PCE inflation targeting regime
The Fed’s move to adopt inflation targeting (IT) was long expected. But economists Peter Warburton and Joanna Davies say the US central bank will be targeting inflation on its own terms
Rapid credit growth in Asia driven by domestic factors, says IMF paper
International Monetary Fund study says domestic monetary policy can play a pivotal role in managing credit growth in emerging Asian markets
Fed's new monetary policy strategy is "flexible inflation-targeting", says Bullard
Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis president James Bullard says putting an explicit inflation target together with a sensible stabilisation policy is flexible inflation-targeting
RBA surprises markets with rate hold
Reserve Bank of Australia policy board leaves cash rate unchanged despite market expectation of 25-basis point cut in rates due to weak external outlook
SNB’s Jordan pledges to maintain Swiss franc’s currency floor
Swiss National Bank acting chairman, Thomas Jordan, preserves commitment of Sfr1.20 floor to euro; analysts expect the central bank to defend but not raise floor
Inflation-targeting central banks should be dissuaded from dual mandate, says St Louis Fed paper
St Louis Federal Reserve study says how Federal Reserve should respond to aggregate supply shocks is unclear if it is to pursue inflation targeting under a dual mandate
Dominican Republic confident in new inflation target; holds rates
Central Bank of the Dominican Republic leaves rates unchanged at first meeting since introducing a new inflation targeting framework; says it will meet 5.5% inflation target by the end of 2012
Central Bank of Iceland paper highlights limitations of inflation indexed bonds
Central Bank of Iceland study shows inflation index-linked bonds in US, UK and Iceland are unreliable measures of the real interest rate