Central Banks
South Korea to continue currency intervention
South Korea's minister of finance and economy on Thursday 19 May denied a news report that the government has decided not to intervene in currency markets.
Malaysia to maintain currency peg
Malaysia will maintain its seven-year-old currency peg to the US dollar and has no plans to impose measures to curb the flow of speculative funds into the economy, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday 19 May.
Hong Kong loosens its dollar's 22-year peg
Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam said on Thursday 19 May that a decision to loosen the Hong Kong dollar's 22-year peg to the US dollar won't encourage banks to raise interest rates sharply and hurt businesses.
Fed's Greenspan on government-sponsored enterprise
In the speech 'Government-sponsored enterprises' given on 19 May Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve levelled criticisms at the two mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Hong Kong's Pang on the Asian Bond Fund
In a speech given on 5 May, Peter Pang said the Asian Bond Fund project will bring about many benefits. First, it introduces and promotes new fixed-income products to the Asian markets.
Dutch Paper on ECB support for the euro
The De Nederlandsche Bank Working Paper "Were verbal efforts to support the euro effective? A high-frequency analysis of ECB statements" published in April 2005 studies the effects of verbal interventions by European central bankers on high-frequency…
Minutes from the Sveriges Riksbank Meeting, 28 Apr
The Sveriges Riksbank published the minutes from its 28 April Executive Board meeting on 17 May. A member emphasised that growth in the world economy was still high, but said that it had become more unevenly distributed and that the performance seemed…
Dallas Fed's Fisher on the world economy
In the speech 'A walk around the world economy' given on 10 May, Richard Fisher of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas urged free trade between the US and "able competitors" and criticised efforts at protectionism.
BoE's King on monetary policy practice and theory
In a speech on 'Monetary policy: Practice ahead of theory' given on 17 May, Mervyn King of the Bank of England put forward his views on the virtues of an inflation targeting regime, attributing economic stability in the UK over the last decade to its…
Bank of England voted 8-1 to hold rates in May
The Bank of England's minutes from its May Monetary Policy Committee meeting released on Wednesday 18 May revealed policy makers voted 8- 1 to keep interest rates unchanged in May with Paul Tucker rejoining the majority, dropping his call for an increase.
RBI plans risk management panel
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it is looking at setting up a separate committee to study and strengthen the operational risk management of banks, as part of the overall implementation of the Basel-II norms.
BOJ's Muto says policy to remain
The Bank of Japan is committed to keeping the policy of holding interest rates at almost zero and pumping cash into the economy until deflation is over, Toshiro Muto, one of the Bank of Japan's two deputy governors said on Tuesday 17 May.
PBOC chief sees room for debt market expansion
China has considerable room to expand its debt market, People's Bank of China chief Zhou Xiaochuan said.
Portugal's Constancio sees 'difficult' steps ahead
Portugal's central bank governor has called for ``new and difficult'' steps to prevent the budget deficit from soaring back above European limits.
Netherlands paper on central bank transparency
The De Nederlandsche Bank Working Paper "The impact of central bank transparency on inflation expectations" published in March 2005, investigates how the link between inflation and inflation expectations alters with increasing central bank transparency.
Surprising transparency on Swiss gold sales
This article looks at the recent speech by Philipp Hildebrand on the Swiss National Bank's gold sales. The speech represented "amazing after-the-event transparency" it says.
RBNZ Financial Stability Report, May 2005
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand published its May 2005 Financial Stability Report on 17 May. Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard commented: "The New Zealand financial system, overall, is well placed to weather a possible slowdown in the economy."
BoE's Bell on communicating monetary policy
In a speech on 'Communicating monetary policy in practice' given on 17 May, Marian Bell of the Bank of England said that in her experience the MPC is straightforward in its communications. The MPC doesn't spin, nor is it disingenuous.
Uganda's Opiokello on recent achievements
In the speech 'Bank of Uganda - recent achievements' given on 4 March (published 9 May), David Opiokello of the Bank of Uganda said recent achievements include the Bank successfully implementing automation of currency note processing and the RTGS has…
Japan's Tanigaki sees economy on steady recovery
Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said on Tuesday 17 May that he sees the world's second largest economy as steady on a recovery track as indicated by January-March gross domestic product data.
Kohn says Fed likely to keep upping rates
The Federal Reserve is likely to keep raising interest rates at a gradual pace, according to a senior Fed official.
China peg pressure unhelpful - PM Wen
China's prime minister Wen Jiabao rejected foreign pressure to reform the pegged currency system, telling a visiting US delegation on Monday 16 May that any policy change was a "sovereign" issue for China which would be resolved at its own discression.
BOK sees no shift on yuan rate for now
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said on Tuesday 17 May that China is unlikely to revalue the yuan against the US dollar anytime soon, as its economy depends largely on exports to boost growth.
Central banks become net dollar sellers
The world's central banks have become net sellers of US dollar-denominated assets for the first time in more than two years.