Central Banks
Turk banks scramble for cash, rates over 4,000 pct
Turkish overnight repo and money rates soared to unprecedented levels on Feb 21, 2001 as the market scrambled for cash in the midst of a deepening financial crisis sparked by a political row.
Norway c.bank keeps rates on hold, bias neutral
Norway's central bank kept interest rates on hold after a policy-setting meeting on Feb 21, 2001 and said that the outlook for rates was neutral, in line with analysts' forecasts.
UK MPC voted unaminously for Feb rate cut-minutes
Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meeting in early February 2001 showed all nine members backed the cut to 5.75 percent, with some seeing a case for a half point reduction in borrowing costs.
UK: Trichet says confidence key to euro
Bank of France Governor Jean-Claude Trichet said on Feb 21, 2001 confidence was key when policymakers spoke of a strong euro.
Israel cbank labour unrest may block rate decision
The Bank of Israel cautioned on Feb 21, 2001 that it might not issue its next discount rate announcement on schedule because of continued labour unrest at the bank.
ECB's Issing-price risks more balanced, not gone
European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing reiterated on Feb 21 that while price risk in the euro zone were increasingly balanced some threats to price stability still lingered on.
MAS Quarterly Report on Financial Markets- Feb 01
The Monetay Authority of Singapore has just published on Feb 21, 2001 its Quarterly Report on Financial Markets.
Lithuanian govt backs draft bill for litas repeg
The Lithuanian government on Feb 21, 2001 approved and sent to parliament an amendment aimed at clearing the way for a shift in the litas currency's peg to the euro from the dollar with no devaluation, officials said.
Belarus agrees on IMF terms to launch monitoring
Belarus accepts the terms of the International Monetary Fund that require implementation of a monitoring program, the Belarus premier Vladimir Yermoshin told journalists on Feb 21, 2001.
Mexico inflation views to dip on Feb data-Ortiz
When economists receive data on Mexican inflation for the month of February 2001 they will move to trim their forecast for the country's inflation for the full year 2001, the country's central bank chief said on Feb 21, 2001.
Fed's Parry sees U.S. rebound after rough patch
The U.S. economy may hit a rough patch in the next few months but should rebound to a modest growth rate by year-end, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Robert Parry said on Feb 21, 2001.
CBN Sanusi warns against repeating past mistakes
Nigeria's central bank governor, Joseph Sanusi, has warned against the growing clamour for a draw-down of the Excess Crude Reserve Account by state and local governments.
Indonesian Wahid's advisers say rethink c.bank law
Prominent foreign advisers to Indonesia's embattled president, including ex-Fed chairman Paul Volcker, urged him to stick with the IMF and to drop current proposals to revamp the central bank law which have become a nasty thorn in relations with the Fund.
Cbanks should be pre-emptive - Fed's Gramlich
U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Edward Gramlich said on Feb 20, 2001 central banks had to move preemptively given the time it took for their actions to feed through to the economy. He advocated the use of forward-looking, flexible, inflation targetting as…
Belgian central bank issues loans warning to banks
The National Bank of Belgium used its annual report on Feb 20, 2001 to fire a warning shot to commercial banks about lending to high tech firms. The central bank, which is pitching to take on a greater role in banking supervision in Belgium, said banks…
India economy can grow at least 8 pct per yr-RBI
India's central bank chief said on Feb 20, 2001 said he was confident the country could post annual growth of at least eight percent in the medium term. He added the economy was resilient enough to handle external and internal shocks such as last month's…
Turkish cbank governor-no reason to devalue lira
Turkey has no reason to devalue its currency, as the central bank is firmly keeping monetary aggregates in line with the IMF-backed anti-inflation program, central bank Governor Gazi Ercel told the CNN Turk TV channel on Feb 19, 2001.
N Korea to take Chinese approach to development
Lim Dong-won, director of North Korea's National Intelligence Service said on Feb 20 that the communist government would pursue a Chinese-style policy of separating politics from economy to introduce a market economy, while maintaining the socialist…
Welteke - upside price risk diminished,not faded
Upside risks to price stability in the euro zone have diminished but the all-clear can't be given yet, Deutsche Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke said on Feb 20.
Turkish market opens 4.95 quadrillion lira short
The Turkish market opened a massive 4.95 quadrillion lira ($7 billion) short after banks rushed to foreign on Feb 19 draining nearly one fifth of the country's international reserves due to a row between the government and the president.
Nicaragua agrees with IMF to lower public spending
Nicaragua's government agreed with the International Monetary Fund to cut public spending as a step toward both financial stability and debt relief, the president of the Central American nation's Central Bank said on Feb 20.
Canada's Dodge upbeat on economy in first speech
Nortel Networks Corp, long the darling of the Canadian equities market, may have been grounded but it is unlikely that one company will drag down the rest of the economy, Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said on Feb 20.
ECB updates operational conditions for pay systems
On 20 February 2001, the Governing Council of the ECB updated the operational conditions for the use of eligible securities settlement systems (SSSs) in the settlement of collateral for Eurosystem credit operations.
Swiss SNB gold sales total 5.4 tons in 10 days
The Swiss National Bank said on Feb 20 its gold reserves fell by CHF77.6 million to CHF34.33 billion in the 10-day reporting period to Feb. 20, 2001.