Brazil to reveal rate-setters'votes

The board of the Central Bank of Brazil has approved changes to the law governing the central bank, which will among other things mean details of how policy-makers vote will be revealed in future.

The decision was one of several steps announced on May 16 to help the central bank meet a federal requirement to give greater access to information. The change takes effect as of the next board meeting, which will be held at the end of this month.

Other changes to improve transparency were also announced by the central bank. These included publishing a calendar of policy meetings six months in advance, the issuance of a notice immediately after each meeting and offering greater detail about the reasons behind monetary policy decisions in the future.

The central bank will also be publishing a quarterly inflation report. Transparency in central banking has attracted headlines recently, as monetary policy decisions and their implications became all the more important in the wake of the global financial crisis. Several central banks have announced ways they aim to improve the methods of information dissemination to allow interested parties to better understand the work carried out. For example, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, began holding press conferences regarding rate decisions for the first time, and detailed information used by FOMC members in making monetary policy decisions has also been published.

The National Bank of Poland, meanwhile, has also announced it will begin publishing the Monetary Policy Council's motions together with a breakdown of votes cast by individual members. A statement published today explained the timings of the release. If the motion is not passed, the information will be published after the lapse of six weeks from the date of voting, at 14.00 hours. However, if the resolution on interest rates is adopted, the votes will be displayed on the central bank's website as soon as it has been published in the official Court and Economic Monitor.