Central Banks
Philly Fed: trade declines in US recession normal
Philadelphia Federal Reserve study shows that inventories stock created a buffer following declines in post-crisis trade
Bond vote highlights flaws in ECB’s governance: Ex-FSA head Davies
Former head of UK Financial Services Authority Howard Davies says vote on bond purchases underlines flaws in European Central Bank’s one member, one vote policy
Persistent UK inflation sparks concern over Bank’s forecasting
Mervyn King forced to pen another letter to chancellor as inflation remains way above target
Venezuela tightens grip on FX in bid to close down unofficial market
Central Bank of Venezuela to attempt to curb the depreciation of the bolivar by taking control of foreign exchange
China sought safety in US Treasuries as eurozone markets unsettled investors
Treasury data out on Monday show China and Japan heavily increased their holdings in US Treasuries in March
Values of Target2 transactions slide by a fifth
European Central Bank blames economic slowdown for decline in turnover; volume of transactions also dips
Bini Smaghi defends ECB policy to dump rating agencies
ECB board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi attacks rating agencies for role in Greek debt crisis
Yilmaz confident Turkey can keep up with other emerging markets
Central Bank of Turkey governor Durmas Yilmaz says country’s lack of toxic assets has paid off during the recovery
BoJ: payments systems need liquidity revamp
Bank of Japan review on payments and settlement systems says current liquidity requirements are inadequate
Europe to place CDS markets under spotlight: Barnier
European commissioner Michel Barnier says legislation in works requiring credit default swaps to be registered and made fully transparent; follows criticism of investors from European leaders
When experts fail: a response and reply
Michael Taylor comments on the argument set out by Frank Vibert in the February edition of Central Banking journal, to which Vibert in turn replies
Surveying inflation credibility
Jannie Rossouw, Vishnu Padayachee and Fanie Joubert compare the methodologies of inflation credibility surveys conducted in New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden
Policy forecasts: a new frontier in communication
Jakob de Haan weighs up the pros and cons for central banks considering publishing interest rate paths
Buba’s Weber interested in price-level targeting
Bundesbank president Axel Weber says move to price-level targeting could help anchor inflation expectations
Official-sector balance sheets after the crisis
In the third of Central Banking’s web seminar series, Daniel Gros, Ken Wattret and Tim Young discussed how official sector balance sheets have changed, the new challenges policymakers face and how to overcome them
Trichet reaches out to German public
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet participates in several interviews with German media to assuage fears over the central bank’s entry into bond markets
The case for reserve currency competition
A competitive market for reserve currencies would help remove global imbalances, says Ousmène Mandeng
A future for the SDR?
Richard Cooper looks at whether the SDR could substitute for the dollar as a global reserve currency
Follow the money
Monetary aggregates are set for a comeback in central banking, but as indicators of financial instability, not inflation. Claire Jones reports
Lessons from the crisis for monetary policy
As central bankers discuss the future of the monetary policy framework, Robert Pringle puts the debate in a wider context and raises some questions about the emerging new consensus