Reserves
Interview: Jordan's cbank governor Umayy Toukan
The new governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, Umayy Toukan, has given his first exclusive interview since taking up the post earlier in 2001. He was interview by Reuters journalist, Suleiman al-Khalidi, in Amman on Feb 13. In the interview the governor…
IMF-WB-ADB in bailout package for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has been promised a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help shore up depleted foreign exchange reserves, Central Bank officials said. The officials, who declined to be named,…
HKMA Background Brief No.1: HK Linked ER System
Since 1983 the Hong Kong dollar has been linked to the US dollar at the rate of HK$7.8 to one US dollar. The link is maintained through the operation of a strict and robust currency board system. This booklet published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority…
Zimbabwe says to lift forex directive on Feb 15
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said on Feb 12, 2001 a directive to commercial banks to sell all foreign currency from clients' export earnings to the central bank or the state oil company would be lifted on Feb 15. "This directive has been issued as a…
Zimbabwe orders banks to remit forex to cenbank
The government of Zimbabwe has directed commercial banks to remit 75 percent of their foreign currency to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe until further notice, bank officials said on Feb 10."There was a directive yesterday to the effect that banks should…
Greek cbank says no sales of euros to restructure
Greece's central bank said on Feb. 9, 2001 that it had not been selling euros as part of a restructuring of its foreign reserves but that some payment in foreign exchange had been made on behalf of the Greek government. "All these rumours that the Bank…
US plan to widen euro debt holding is logical-ECB
The European Central Bank said on Feb 9, 2001 plans by the U.S. monetary authorities to widen their holdings of government securities in the euro zone to include countries other than Germany were a logical step following the arrival of the euro. "This is…
Ex-head Bulgarian cbanker charged with fraud
Stoyan Shoukerov, former head of the Foreign Exchange Operations Department of the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB), has been charged with abuse of office in connection with the refinancing of commercial banks with 49 million dollars, the Special…
Yemen foreign reserves at record high-central bank
Yemen's foreign reserves have hit $3 billion, the highest level in the poor Arab state's history, the central bank governor said in remarks published on Feb 8, 2001. "The central bank's reserves as of the beginning of 2001 reached around $3 billion and…
Russian c.bank reserves set post-Soviet record
Russia's foreign currency and gold reserves have hit a new post-Soviet high of $29.5 billion after rising almost one billion dollars in the week to Feb. 2, the central bank said on Feb. 8, 2001. The bank said reserves had risen to the new level from $28…
Taiwan's forex reserves up to $108.05bn in Jan '01
Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves at the end of January 2001 totalled US$108.05 billion, the first rally in seven months, statistics released on Feb. 7 by the Central Bank of China (CBC) showed. The CBC statistics revealed that the amount of Taiwan's…
Estonia c.bank Jan reserves down amid rules change
Estonia's central bank said on Feb. 7 its gold and foreign currency reserves dropped 14.4 percent in January 2001 from December 2000 as new regulations easing the use of commercial banks' mandatory reserves went into effect. The central bank said in a…
Czechs to mull foreign bond issue - Deputy FinMin
The Czech central bank (CNB) board should discuss at the beginning of March 2001 the possibility of tapping foreign markets for a bond issue, Deputy Finance Minister Eduard Janota said on Feb 7."We are analysing the current situation on the bond market…
Bank of Lithuania forex reserves fall by 1.9%
Lithuania's official international reserves shrank by 25.4 million U.S. dollars, or 1.9 percent, over January 2001, measuring up at 1.333 billion dollars as of Feb. 1, the central Bank of Lithuania announced on Feb. 7. The Bank of Lithuania said it sold…
Bank of Estonia total assets down 6.5% in Jan 2001
The total assets of the Bank of Estonia declined by 6.5 percent during January to 16.1 billion kroons (USD 955 mln) at the end of the January 2001. The central bank's gold and currency reserve dropped by 2.2 billion kroons or 14.4 percent to 13.2 billion…
Poland NBP implements new risk prevention methods
The National Bank of Poland (NBP) central bank and the Banking Supervisory Commission (KNB) will impose new principles of protection against the foreign currency risk and gold risk. Consequently the minimum solvency index for banks will rise from 8 to 11…
Reserves plan bad for euro system - Austria c.bank
The Austrian National Bank warned on Feb. 6, 2001, that the finance minister's efforts to get the government's hands on central bank currency reserves could undermine the credibility of the euro system. "The Austrian National Bank believes that resorting…
Bank Negara reappoints Citibank as main dealer
Citibank announced on Feb. 5, 2001, its re-appointment by Bank Negara Malaysia for the year 2001 as a Principal Dealer of Malaysian Government Securities, Treasury Bills, Bank Negara Bills, Cagamas instruments, Khazanah Bonds and other approved…
Austrian govt, c.bank at odds on forex reserves
Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser clashed with the central bank on Feb. 5, 2001, when he called for up to $6.8 billion worth of its currency reserves to be used to cut the national debt or boost public spending. The deputy governor of the…
Future Hungary c.bank head sets EMU roadmap
National Bank of Hungary (NBH) governor designate Zsigmond Jarai said on Feb 5., 2001, that Hungary must forge a path to join the euro zone, including two possible cuts in the monthly devaluation rate of the forint in 2001. "We should mark the route and…
Zambia c.bnk imposes new rules to defend kwacha
The central Bank of Zambia on Feb. 5, 2001, imposed new rules to defend the battered kwacha, which it says is a victim of speculators and unscrupulous businessmen. In a statement, the bank said it had reduced overall foreign exchange exposure limits for…
Radek Urban leaving Czech National Bank
Radek Urban has left the Czech National Bank where he was executive director of the financial markets department. On March 1 he will joining the asset management department of Ceska Sporitelna in Prague. Mr Urban has played a key role in developing the…
Belarus hard currency reserves triple to $150m
Belarus's central bank net hard currency reserves rose to $150 million on January 1, 2001, from $50 million at the start of last year, the bank's head, Pyotr Prokopovich, said on Feb 2. He told a news conference the bank planned to boost net hard…
Turkish cbank meets asset targets under IMF plan
The Central Bank of Turkey on Feb 1 said it has comfortably achieved the net domestic assets target (NDA), and net international reserve levels it committed to under its anti-inflation program agreed with the International Monetary Fund. The bank said in…