Monetary Policy
Leading credit ratings agencies under fire
JAPAN - Japan's Ministry of Finance has taken aim at the world's leading credit ratings agencies - Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch - in a strongly worded letter that accuses them of lacking objectivity and calls into question the reliability of…
ECB Press Conference
PRESS CONFERENCE - Introductory statement by Willem F. Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank, Christian Noyer, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, 2 May.
Speech by M Moskow, President, Chicago Fed, 1 May
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'The Impact of Open Markets and Expanded Trade on Economic Development' Moskow said that whilst some were opposed to free trade he would continue to believe that openness is essential to long-term prosperity in both the…
Speech by David Dodge of Bank of Canada, 30 Apr
SPEECH - In a speech made Tuesday, Dodge, justifying the Canadian central bank's hiking interest rates before the U.S. Federal Reserve, said that the Canadian economy was closer to full capacity than that of the United States.
Bank of Japan Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Monetary Policy Meeting, 30 April.
Outlook and Risk Assessment, Economy and Prices
REPORT - Outlook and Risk Assessment of the Economy and Prices, April 2002 as determined by the Policy Board at the Monetary Policy Meeting held on 30 April 2002 by the Bank of Japan.
Central bank intervention and market expectations
RESEARCH - BIS Papers No. 10 by Gabriele Galati and Will Melick, April 2002.
Olson isn't saying what banks want to hear
FEATURE - Bankers' hopes were high in December when Mark W. Olson was sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve Board but the American Banker reports, 1 May, that Mr Olson has provided the banking industry with nothing but tough love.
Frenkel accused of claiming funds not due him
ISRAEL - Israel's state audit office said on Monday former Bank of Israel Governor Jacob Frenkel, who stepped down in 2000 after nine years in office, had claimed thousands of dollars not due to him. A spokesman for Frenkel in Tel Aviv dismissed all the…
Brash walks into storm over interest rates
NEW ZEALAND - It did not take the New Zealand opposition's latest recruit - former New Zealand Reserve Bank governor Don Brash - long to learn that the rough and tumble of politics is a different world from the rarefied atmosphere of monetary policy…
Transcript of interview with Ernst Welteke
FEATURE - The FT spoke to Ernst Welteke, president of the Deutsche Bundesbank, on his visit to London on Monday 28 April. The interview was published on Wednesday and here we reproduce it in its entirety. He was sceptical about plans to publish the…
Mexico shows signs of end to recession
MEXICO - The Bank of Mexico on Tuesday raised its forecast for the country's gross domestic product growth this year to 1.8 per cent from 1.5 per cent, apparently confirming predictions that the economy is starting to follow the US out of recession.
Bush expected to name Fed nominees - Report
USA - U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to nominate Princeton economist Ben Bernanke and Federal Reserve official Donald Kohn to the central bank's board, sources apparently told Reuters on Tuesday. A White House spokeswoman on Tuesday declined…
European Central Bank Working Paper
RESEARCH - On currency crises and contagion ECB Working Paper No. 139, by Marcel Fratzscher, April 2002.
Speech by David Clementi, Bank of England, 29 Apr
SPEECH - In a speech 'Property and the Economy' Clementi played down talk of a dangerous "bubble" similar to the late 1980s when a housing boom suddenly turned to bust.
Fed Reserve Bank of New York - Annual Report 2001
ANNUAL REPORT - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2001.
Speech by the Governor, Bank of Greece, 22 Apr
SPEECH - In an introductory statement to the European Parliament Papademos conceded that an anonymous publication of the policymaking body's members' positions could enhance the transparency of ECB monetary policy and thereby provide financial markets…
European Central Bank Working Paper
RESEARCH - ECB Working Paper by Francesco Paolo Mongelli, "New" views on the optimum currency area theory: what is EMU telling us?, April 2002.
Speech by Jarle Bergo of Norges Bank, 25 Apr
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Oil - natural resource and financial asset' Bergo asks the question "Is an abundance of natural resources really an advantage?" and says that developing countries whose most important export is oil have generally recorded…
Interview with Russian central bank First Deputy
FEATURE - Interview with central bank first deputy chairman Oleg Vyugin with Vesti RTR News Program, 23 April.
Outgoing chief warns on Greek competitiveness
GREECE - In the Greek central bank's annual report released on Monday the governor warned that his country was losing competitiveness in the eurozone in spite of high levels of investment driven by transfers from EU structural funds.
ECB stands in contrast to Bank of England
FEATURE - Tuesday's London edition FT reports on the difficulties central banks can face in identifying and maintaining ideal inflation targets.
Speech by David Dodge of Bank of Canada, 26 Apr
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'The Interaction Between Monetary and Fiscal Policies' Dodge said that Canadian monetary and fiscal policies both went badly off course just over 25 years ago. It then took 15 to 20 years to establish the appropriate focus for…
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Publication of 'The single monetary policy in the euro area: General documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures', 26 April.