Central Banks
Nightmares of a central banker
According to this article published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute on Tuesday 6 February, the record of modern central banking is bleak, with monetary policy failing again and again.
Brazil's fin min says central bank chief staying
Brazil's central bank president Henrique Meirelles will remain in the job even though he has been criticised by some members of the government for his conservative stance, finance minister Guido Mantega told reporters on Wednesday 7 February.
ECB's Trichet flags rate increase with 'vigilance'
European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet signalled the ECB will likely raise interest rates next month as the pace of economic growth threatens to stoke inflation.
BOJ in no hurry to raise rates says Haru
The Bank of Japan is in no hurry to raise short-term interest rates in the absence of an immediate inflation risk, BOJ board member Hidehiko Haru said in a speech Thursday 8 February.
BOK chief says reserves may go to overseas stocks
South Korea is considering investing part of its foreign reserves in overseas blue-chip stocks in an attempt to increase investment returns, Yonhap news agency cited the Bank of Korea chief as saying Thursday 8 February.
SF Fed's Yellen on the Asian financial crisis
In the speech 'The Asian financial crisis ten years later: Assessing the past and looking to the future' given on 6 February Janet Yellen of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said China's exchange rate policy should be more flexible in order to…
Buba's Weber says ECB will do 'utmost' on prices
The European Central Bank and the eurozone's national central banks will do everything possible to ensure price stability in the euro area, Bundesbank president Axel Weber said Wednesday 7 February.
Germany's Steinbrueck backs ECB's independence
German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said Wednesday 7 February that the independence of the European Central Bank, which has received criticism from some French politicians, must be respected.
China factors will be key in 2007 gold market
According to this article from Interfax-China, published Friday 2 February, Chinese factors are likely to have an increasing influence on the gold price this year with the possibility that the People's Bank of China will increase gold reserves.
Ito says BoJ must explain policy better
A member of the Japanese government's top economic council said on Monday 5 February in an interview with Reuters the Bank of Japan should promote accountability and transparency in its monetary policy as it has not been doing a good job in communicating…
Sweden's Rosenberg on current monetary policy
In the speech 'Current monetary policy' given on 5 February Irma Rosenberg of the Sveriges Riksbank said that since both the demand and supply sides of the Swedish economy are growing, the central bank sees inflation being held back in the future.
ECB paper on emerging market shocks
The ECB Working Paper "The transmission of emerging market shocks to global equity markets" analyses whether, and to what extent, emerging market economies (EMEs) have systemic importance for global financial markets, above and beyond their influence…
Monetary and exchange rate policy in Malaysia
The Working Paper "Monetary and exchange rate policy in Malaysia before the Asian crisis" from the Institute of Developing Economies provides a case study to characterize the monetary policy regime in Malaysia, from a medium- and long-term perspective.
Samoobrona candidate may join NBP board
According to Sunday 4 February's issue of Newsweek Polska, Andrzej Lepper, head of Self-Defence (Samoobrona), is looking forward to placing his candidate on the management board of the National Bank of Poland.
Pridiyathorn says BoT prevented crisis
M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula, Thailand's finance minister, and former governor of the Bank of Thailand, has said expectations of dollar weakness have led to the heavy fund flows into other currencies, including the baht.
Bank of Italy shuffles management
Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, has begun reshuffling his management team ahead of a meeting with unions this week, La Stampa reported Friday 3 February.
The RBI's Jekyll and Hyde act
This article from The Economic Times, published Monday 5 February, asks why the Reserve Bank of India's latest monetary policy review reads like a thriller but pulls up short at the last minute.
Monetary policy inertia and recent Fed actions
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Economic Letter for 03-2007 describes and assesses two interpretations of recent monetary policy actions by the Federal Reserve.
New York Fed's Foreign Exchange Operations Report
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations quarterly report for October-December 2006, published 1 February, the U.S. monetary authorities did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets…
The use of mortgage covered bonds
According to this IMF Working Paper, the rapid mortgage credit growth experienced in recent years in mature and emerging countries has raised some stability concerns.
Paper says 3-way split for China's FX reserves
China is planning to set up a new agency to manage a fifth of the country's $1.07 trillion in foreign currency reserves as part of a shake-up that will divide responsibility for the stockpile among three bodies, a newspaper reported on Thursday 1…
Klitzing joins Norges Bank Investment Management
Espen Klitzing has been appointed Chief Financial Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management, the bank said Friday 2 February.
China aims to spend $200bn of reserves
This article from the Asia Times, published Saturday 3 February, looks at the idea that China's Ministry of Finance plans to issue yuan-denominated bonds to 'buy out' as much as $200 billion from the country's massive foreign reserves.