The last two decades have been characterised as an age in which monetary authorities have won increasing independence from their parliaments. For Stephen Roach, the chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, a bank, they have frittered this new-found power.

On the sidelines of a conference to celebrate Bank Negara Malaysia's 50th anniversary, Roach tells CentralBanking.com: "Alan Greenspan wrote in his own memoirs that central bankers are not as politically independent as we'd like them to be, that during