Monetary Policy
Hungarian parliament passes new central bank act
HUNGARY - The Hungarian parliament passed the new Central Bank Act late evening of 19 June. The new act relegates supervisory authority over the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) to the State Audit Office (ASZ), and replaces the current central bank council…
Single currency for NZ and Aus
NEW ZEALAND - Economists at a Sydney forum discussed a shared currency for New Zealand and Australia on 20 June.
Friedman issues euro warning
US - Top US economist Milton Friedman believes Europe was wrong to introduce the single European currency and predicts it will lead to a raft of economic problems for the region.
Argentina's new measures to combat recession
ARGENTINA - Argentina is preparing to implement it's latest package of measures aimed at wresting the country out of a three-year recession and staving off a potential debt default.
Protest fear forces World Bank switch
SPAIN - The World Bank has decided to hold an annual development conference in cyberspace after protesters threatened to disrupt the event.
Bank of England minutes show rates firmly on hold
UK - The Bank of England has published the minutes to it's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on 5 and 6 June. The minutes show that the MPC were strongly in favour of keeping interest rates on hold.
Euro € - Dutch prepare for switch with free coins
NETHERLANDS - The Dutch government has extravagent plans to prepare its people for the arrival of new euro notes and coins on 1 January 2002. Alone among the participating countries, the Dutch will put free coins in everyone's pocket before the…
Europe can learn from UK's decimal currency switch
UK - The conversion to a decimal currency in Britain in 1971 may have lessons for the introduction of euro notes and coins in January next year.
Arab central bank hits out
UAE - The UAE central bank has lashed out at a US report claiming the Emirates is in 'the second category' in relation to money laundering.
Condition of the U.S. banking system
US - Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs at the U.S. Senate on 20 June.
Bank of Japan Monthly Report June 2001
RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan has produced its Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments for June 2001.
Mervyn King at the Cardiff Business School, Wales
SPEECH - The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King spoke at Cardiff University on 18 June. He suggested that growing imbalances in the UK economy risk sharp swings in inflation and growth and an uncontrollable fall in sterling.
Euro € - Five economic tests have not started yet
UK - Chancellor Gordon Brown has quashed speculation that assessment of the five tests necessary for Britain's entry in the single currency have already begun and narrowly avoided a 'banana skin' during a BBC radio interview on 18 June.
Cathy Minehan, President Boston Fed Reserve Bank
SPEECH - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and Chief Executive Officer, Cathy Minehan spoke on 18 June at the Boston Municipal Research Bureau Semi-Annual Meeting, Swissotel, Boston, Massachusetts.
Soros avoids the euro
EUROPE - In an interview with the German Sunday newspaper, Welt Am Sontag, George Soros says that betting on the euro is a mug's game.
Basle 2 'Developing countries fear poor loan loss'
GUATEMALA - The Basle 2 regulations, requiring banks in industrialised countries to make increased provisions for loans to their counterparts in developing countries, would make funds more expensive and scarce for those countries classed as the biggest…
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin - Summer 2001
RESEARCH - A section of the bulletin, Markets and Operations, reviews developments in international and domestic financial markets, drawing on information from the Bank of England's market contacts, and describes the Bank's market operations in the…
Countdown to the single currency
REPORT - CENTRALBANKNET'S SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND'S 'PRACTICAL ISSUES ARISING FROM THE EURO' REPORT, JUNE 2001.
Riksbank publish 2001 Financial Stability Report
RESEARCH - The Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, has published its Financial Stability Report for May 2001. They report that the banking sector appears well-equipped to manage the effects that could ensue from a general economic slowdown.
PPP and the real exchange rate - data evidence
RESEARCH - Georgios Chortareas and Rebecca Driver of the Bank of England have published a working paper titled "PPP and the real exchange rate - real interest rate differential puzzle revisited: evidence from non-stationary panel data
Monetary policy and financial markets
SPEECH - Professor Otmar Issing, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, has given a speech 'Monetary policy and financial markets' at the ECB Watchers Conference, Frankfurt, June 2001.
Bank of Japan makes policy board appointment
JAPAN - Shin Nakahara has been appointed to the policy board of the Bank of Japan. He succeeds Susumu Taketomi whose term has ended. Nakahara was deputy president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
Welteke - UK exchange rate problem for euro entry
GERMANY - Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke said on 18 June the chances for a UK entry into European Monetary Union have increased with the re-election of the Labour government, but the current high exchange rate of sterling is a problem.
Euro-zone inflation over 3 percent for first time
EUROPE - Inflation in the 12-nation euro-zone soared to 3.4 percent in May, a surprisingly high increase that pushed the rate above 3 percent for the first time since the European single currency was launched in January 1999.