Central Banks
SAMA warns of attempts to forge Saudi riyal notes
SAUDI ARABIA - The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has cautioned the public against attempts by some gangs to forge Saudi currency notes. It said the central bank, with the help of law enforcement agencies, has taken added security measures to…
Central Bank of Kenya to be sued
KENYA - The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) yesterday took the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to court seeking to recover over Sh258 million.
ECB Press Conference
PRESS CONFERENCE - Introductory statement by Willem F. Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, with a transcript of the questions and answers, Frankfurt, 7 November 2002.
Central bankers do it their way
ARTICLE - It is as well that central bank actions are not co-ordinated. The US Federal Reserve has a clear bias towards stimulus and preventive action, as its half-point cut in interest rates this week shows.
Argentina and IMF at odds over payment
ARGENTINA - Argentina and the International Monetary Fund remain some distance apart in negotiations over an agreement that would make it easier to make a $805m debt payment due to the World Bank next week.
UAE concession to foreign banks
UAE - Foreign banks in the United Arab Emirates are to receive a concession under a new central bank law to be issued early next year.
Kennedy on Financial Markets and Monetary Policy
SPEECH - In the speech 'The Interaction of Financial Markets and Monetary Policy' made on 4 November, Sheryl Kennedy of the Bank of Canada said like a number of other central banks, we have a "blackout" period in the week before our announcements. No…
Malaysia bank mergers seen next year
SINGAPORE - The Malaysian banking sector is due for a new round of consolidation ahead of further liberalisation in 2007 -- and mergers, especially among the smaller existing banks, could start toward the end of next year, analysts say.
Economy coming out of recession - Barbados c bank
BARBADOS - A flicker of growth in the economy during the third quarter of this year has signalled that Barbados is coming out of recession.
Germany braces for budget criticism
GERMANY - Germany is facing the threat of a formal reprimand from the European Commission for its growing budget deficit.
Polish gov't worried about overvalued currency
POLAND - The Polish government continues to believe that the zloty is overvalued and interest rates too high, Prime Minister Leszek Miller said Wednesday.
Azeri banking in upswing, National Bank boss says
AZERBAIJAN - The Azerbaijani banking system, which was in a poor state in 1993-95, is experiencing a period of upswing, the chairman of the board of the National Bank of the Azerbaijani Republic, Elman Rustamov, has said.
Federal Reserve Board Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 1 1/4 percent. In a related action, the Board of Governors approved a 50 basis point reduction in the discount rate to 3…
Fed shocks with half point but signals easing over
US - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed interest rates by a sharp half percentage point to new four-decade lows to try to reignite the recovery, but signalled it planned no more cuts any time soon.
Cautious Bank of England holds rates steady at 4%
UK - The Bank of England on Thursday left is main interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the twelfth consecutive month, despite the US Federal Reserve's unexpectedly large rate cut on Wednesday.
Bank of England News Release
NEWS RELEASE - Bank of England Maintains Interest Rates at 4.0%, 7 November.
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - At today's meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 3.25%, 4.25…
International Monetary Fund Working Paper
RESEARCH - International Monetary Fund Working Paper 'Transparency and International Investor Behavior' by R Gaston Gelos and Shang-Jin Wei. The paper looks at whether country "transparency" affect international portfolio investment and finds that…
Duisenberg should stop suffocating Europe
ARTICLE - In the autumn of 1998, amid the storm of the Asian crisis, Europe's central bankers referred to Europe as an "island of stability". They were roundly criticised by their US friends who felt that the world economy was enduring its worst…
Lack of mavericks 'poses threat' to MPC committee
UK - The Bank of England risks making mistakes in its interest rate decisions because of a lack of maverick thinkers and a growing tendency towards consensus on its monetary policy committee, according to Capital Economics, a consultancy.
Doubts over Japan recovery
UK - Data released Wednesday suggested Japan's fragile export-led recovery might have peaked.
ECB refuses to join Fed rate cut for now
GERMANY - The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, opting not to join the U.S. Federal Reserve in monetary easing aimed at propping up the faltering global economy.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
RBA holds interest rates steady again
AUSTRALIA - The Reserve Bank of Australia, in a widely anticipated response to a worsening global economy and the growing impact of the drought, announced on Wednesday that it had decided to leave interest rates on hold for a fifth month.