Central Banks
New Bank of England governor speaks of his pride
On the eve of taking over as Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King spoke to The Times about his personal approach to the role, filling the shoes of Sir Edward George and crucial issues facing the financial sector, including the prospect of…
Fedspeak with the Fed rate cut
An article in the Washington Times suggests that to understand what the Federal Reserve does, it's best to start with reasonably low expectations about what any central bank can do. It also suggests that the Fed's "balance of risk" assessment of the…
New risk control framework for eligible assets
In the context of the regular assessment of the risk control framework applicable to eligible assets used in Eurosystem credit operations, the Governing Council of the ECB has approved changes to the risk control framework, 2 July.
ECB meeting and press conference schedule for 2004
The Governing Council of the ECB has agreed that in the year 2004 its meetings will continue to be held, as a rule, on a Thursday in the first and third week of each month. As in 2003, the meeting schedule of the Governing Council also accommodates…
IMF, Ecuador talks to focus on reforms- Cenbanker
Sixto Cuesta, the deputy president of Ecuador's central bank, told Reuters that the IMF has concerns over the pace of reforms of the tax system and labour laws in Ecuador prompting the IMF to delay a $42 million payment.
ECB's Issing upbeat on eurozone recovery
The ECB has "cautious optimism" that the eurozone economy would improve soon with the recovery in equity markets, BizWorld reports chief economist Otmar Issing as saying.
Iraqi banks want to rejoin banking system
Faleh Salman, acting Iraqi central bank governor, said at the weekend that the Security Council's decision in May to lift sanctions meant "here is no impediment now" for the resumption of relationships across the world for Iraq's banks, according to a…
Brazil c bank to upgrade credit system in 90 days
The central bank of Brazil's upgraded credit information system will gather information about all loans above 5,000 reais (US$1,760), compared to a minimum of 20,000 reais in the current system, according to Business News America. It will also bring a…
Polish gov't wants c bank reserves to finance debt
Poland's new minister of finance Andrzej Raczko plans to use central bank foreign currency reserves to finance Polish foreign debt, the Polish News Bulletin reports. Members of the Monetary Policy Council oppose any decrease of reserves made against…
Germany's Schroder calls on ECB to reduce rates
German chancellor Gerhard Schroder has questioned the ECB as to "whether they have done enough to stimulate growth", according to a report in the Financial Times. He told Pedro Solbes, EU monetary affairs commissioner, on Tuesday that Germany would…
Reform of credit card schemes in Australia
Statement by the Reserve Bank of Australia on credit card reforms, 1 July.
BoJ Monetary Policy minutes, 19 and 20 May
Minutes of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting on 19 and 20 May 2003, released 30 June. With respect to domestic demand, corporate profits were recovering, and if exports and production resumed their upward trend, business fixed investment was…
6 May Minutes of Federal Open Market Committee
The Federal Reserve on 26 June released the minutes of its FOMC meeting of 6 May. The minutes showed all the members indicated that they could support a proposal to maintain an unchanged policy stance. But they acknowledged that a case could be made for…
The Bank of England gets a respected new chief
Mervyn King began his 5-year term as governor of the Bank of England on 1 July. An article in BusinessWeek describes him as the brains behind the Bank's solid track record since 1997. He is viewed as both a formidable scholar and independent thinker.
Bank of Japan survey shows business sentiment up
The Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey released on Tuesday 1 July suggested that managers in Japan were becoming more optimistic, Associated Press reports, with large companies planning to boost capital expenditure by 4.9 percent this fiscal year.
Bollard not concerned over NZ dollar strength
Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Alan Bollard said on Tuesday 1 July that he was not concerned about the strength of the NZD "but we keep looking at it", according to One Business.
Armenia of interest for Russia's banking sector
Armenian central bank chairman Tigran Sarkisyan said in an interview that as bilateral economic contacts gather pace with Russia, Russian commercial banks will step up co-operation with Armenian partners to increase the servicing of financial flows,…
Bulgarian PM says c bank unaffected over delay
Bulgarian prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg said at the weekend that the delay in naming a new governor for the National Bank of Bulgaria will not have a negative effect on the institution, according to Novinite. He also said he did not know of a third…
Putin, central bank chairman discuss economy
Chairman of the central bank of Russia Sergey Ignatyev met with President Vladimir Putin on Monday 30 June to discuss the financial and economic situation in the country, RTR Russia TV reported. Ignatyev said the macroeconomic situation remains stable,…
India joins IMF's pool of lenders
A statement from the Reserve Bank of India, reported by Associated Press, said that the IMF has selected India for the first time to become a member of its Financial Transaction Plan, which helps bail out countries facing currency crises or at risk of…
Jean-Claude Trichet to chair G10 Governors
Jean-Claude Trichet was elected Chairman by the Governors of the Group of Ten (G10) central banks on 29 June. He succeeds Sir Edward George, who is retiring as Governor of the Bank of England.
BIS Board invites new member central banks to join
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Board has invited six central banks to BIS membership and appointed Hans Tietmeyer as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BIS, 30 June.
Paper: monetary policy rules vis a vis uncertainty
The author of this Bank of Canada Working paper, Gabriel Srour, explores the role that Taylor-type rules can play in monetary policy, given the degree of uncertainty in the economy. It is shown that if the degree of persistence of inflation in the…
Bank of Spain's Jaime Caruana on global recovery
In a speech to the International Securities Market Association Annual General Meeting Jaime Caruana of the Bank of Spain said conditions for a global economic recovery in the second half of the year seem to be in place despite economic data that have yet…