Central Banks
Strong appeal
FEATURE - An emotional day yesterday for Ian Plenderleith - by Bank of England standards at least. The outgoing head of financial market operations has always been taciturn when helping to unveil the inflation report, reports Thursday's Financial Times.
Russia's forex reserves hit record 40bn dollars
RUSSIA - Russia's gold and hard currency reserves have broken a new record. The Central Bank of Russia's department of external and public relations announced on Thursday 16 May that they stood at 40bn dollars as of 10 May.
Carr's role settled at RBNZ
NEW ZEALAND - Rod Carr has been confirmed as Acting Governor of the Reserve Bank for the next six months, or until a permanent appointment has been made.
World's smallest ATM machine goes on display
UAE - Dubai-based Quick Line, which delivered a solution to produce labour cards for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 1994, has launched the world's smallest ATM called NanoCash.
ECB Occasional Papers Series
RESEARCH - Estimating the trend of M3 income velocity underlying the reference value for monetary growth by C. Brand, D. Gerdesmeier and B. Roffia, May 2002.
Speech by T Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB, 29 Apr
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'Competition, co-operation, public action: Three necessary drivers for European financial integration' Padoa-Schioppa expressed the benefits of the euro when saying "Market segmentation - the opposite of integration - is…
Speech by Otmar Issing of the ECB, 29 Apr
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Monetary Policy in an Environment of Global Financial Markets' Issing said "Understanding global financial linkages is important, not least from the perspective of a central banker. Further integration of European financial…
Speech by Stefan Ingves of the IMF, 15 May
SPEECH - In the speech 'Meeting the Challenges for the Chinese Financial Sector: What Have We Learned from Other Countries?' Ingves said that over the past decade, much has been achieved in building the institutions, markets, and legal infrastructure for…
Asian Development Bank - Annual Report 2001
ANNUAL REPORT - ADB says it has met the challenges of 2001 - strengthening itself with the approval of key policies and strategies, encouraging participation and broadening partnerships, and providing loan and technical assistance where needed.
RBNZ raises Official Cash Rate to 5.5%
NEW ZEALAND - Reserve Bank of New Zealand Acting Governor Rod Carr justifies the bank's decision to increase the Official Cash Rate in a statement, and warns of further increases over the year ahead.
Papademos underlines importance of M3
GERMANY - ECB vice-president designate Lucas Papademos said he supports the first pillar of the ECB's monetary policy strategy and that analysis of M3 money supply growth should continue.
BoJ's Ueda advises higher govt spending in Japan
JAPAN - Bank of Japan policy board member Kazuo Ueda said that a small rise in government spending may stimulate the economy without significantly affecting long-term interest rates and that the bank should aim for 1-2% inflation.
Argentina's central bank raises dollar sell rate
ARGENTINA - The central bank has raised the dollar sell rate to 3.24 pesos from 3.19 pesos.
Riksbank's Bergstroem worries about inflation
SWEDEN - The Riksbank's deputy governor Bergstroem said the bank's research estimates wage rises of 4% over the next two years, which is not compatible with the inflation target of 2%. Further interest rate hikes may be necessary in the future.
Speech by David Dodge of Bank of Canada, 9 May
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'Canada's Recent Economic Performance' Dodge said the terrorist attacks in September created a great deal of uncertainty and the consequent aggressive lowering of interest rates resulted in annualised growth of 2 percent…
Speech by Fed Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, 13 May
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Reflections on Financial Literacy' Ferguson said that financial education is important to ensure U.S. residents enjoy the benefits provided by a market economy to the fullest extent possible.
Speech by A Santomero of Philadelphia Fed, 13 May
SPEECH - Santomero said in the speech titled 'Forces Shaping Philadelphia's Future' that US economic growth is likely to moderate during the second quarter from its robust 5.8 percent first-quarter pace, but that the economy is building a solid recovery.
IMF Economic Issues, May 2002
REPORT - Moral Hazard: Does IMF Financing Encourage Imprudence by Borrowers and Lenders? by Timothy Lane and Steven Phillips , 3 May 2002.
Eurosystem reserves down 0.1 bln eur to 10 May
GERMANY - The European Central Bank said eurosystem net foreign currency reserves fell 0.1 bln eur to 258.2 bln in the week ending 10 May on account of customer and portfolio transactions.
Argentina pays down 680 mln US$ World Bank debt
ARGENTINA - The government paid down yesterday a 680 mln US$ instalment on a World Bank loan from central bank reserves, the economy minister Roberto Lavagna, said.
Polish cen bank dep chairman favours fixed ex rate
POLAND - Central bank deputy chairman Andrzej Bratkowski said the economy could benefit from a fixed zloty rate in a situation when the inflow of foreign capital linked with the prospect of Poland's EU accession will continue to strengthen the zloty.
House of Commons Treasury Committee
PRESS RELEASE - Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee: Confirmation hearings for new members, 14 May.
Brazilian bank chief's warning
BRAZIL - Arminio Fraga, president of Brazil's central bank, said yesterday that he was worried by "a certain lack of coherence" in the economic programmes offered by candidates for the October presidential election.
Eurozone economy to grow 2.5% at year-end
SPAIN - The rate of economic recovery in the eurozone is unclear but the economy should probably be growing at about 2.5 per cent at the end of this year, European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Christian Noyer said on Sunday.