Central Banks
Brussels raises Eurozone inflation forecast
The European Commission revised upwards its inflation forecasts for the euro-zone and said European economic growth, though relatively strong, was unlikely to equal US growth until 2002.
Economists hit Malaysia's dollar peg
Malaysia should get rid of its currency peg to the dollar and fix the exchange rate to a trade-weighted basket of currencies instead, said several economists speaking at a conference in Kuala Lumpur.
BOJ commits to Jan 4 real-time settlement launch
Bank of Japan governor Masaru Hayami said on Tuesday the central bank would stick with the January 4 launch date for its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for government debt and money market transactions.
US and euro interest rates to rise, says OECD
Interest rates in the world's leading economies look set to rise, the OECD warned in its bi-annual World Economic Outlook and predicted global growth of 4.75% this year.
Taiwan BoP suffers from capital flight
After eight quarters in surplus, Taiwan's balance of international payments fell into deficit territory in the third quarter of this year as the result of a sharp fall in the capital account, the Central Bank of China revealed yesterday.
Russia and IMF disagree over forex reserves
The Russian government is hoping to resume its talks with the International Monetary Fund in the middle of December, a source close to the talks told the Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday.
Investors await Eqypt's exchange rate policy
Domestic and foreign investors in Egypt are waiting for some sign from the monetary authorities on a new exchange rate policy nearly two months after the country abandoned a long-standing fixed peg against the dollar.
Venezuela preparing interest rate measures
Venezuela's central bank is considering measures to limit the spread between commercial banks' lending and deposit interest rates, as part of a new banking law being drafted for decree by President Hugo Chavez.
Australian dollar falls to 17 year low
The tide of global foreign exchange markets has turned against the Australian dollar again with the local currency falling to a record 17 year low.
Ghana to be HQ of West African Monetary Institute
Ghana has been selected as the location for the headquarters of the West African Monetary Institute that is to work towards the establishment of a West African Central Bank.
Brazil's cenbank intervenes in FX markets
Brazil's central bank intervened in the foreign exchange markets today, saying that it does not want the real to strengthen too much against the dollar as it could be detrimental to Brazil's trade balance.
BoE issues inflation warning on wages
The Bank of England has released a report, co-written by chief economist Charlie Bean and other bank staff, warning that an increase in the share of national income being taken by wages may lead to a rise in inflation.
Target throughput improves; issues remain
While throughput on TARGET payments is improving some banks are still ignoring rules which require them to make payments promptly.
Sarkinas: no policy change until after mid-2001
Reinoldijus Sarkinas, governor of the Bank of Lithuania, met with the IMF mission headed by Patricia Alonso-Gamo. He reiterated that decisions about the planned repegging of the national currency, the litas, from the US dollar to the euro would not be…
Calls for fundamental reform of the ECB
The UK government's favourite foreign policy think-tank has published a paper calling for fundamental reform of the European Central Bank and European economic policy-making to restore confidence in the euro.
Macedonia, Bosnia want share of FRY gold reserves
Today, on his return from Sarajevo, where a meeting had taken place of the heads of the national banks of the countries that emerged after the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke up, Ljube Trpeski, governor of the Bank of Macedonia, stated…
Bank of Japan - Annual Report 2000
ANNUAL REPORT - The Bank of Japan has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2000.
Speech by Antonio Fazio, Governor, Bank of Italy
SPEECH - Speech by Antonio Fazio, Governor of the Bank of Italy at the World Gold Council International Conference "The Euro, the Dollar and Gold" held in Rome on 17 November 2000. The relationship between currencies and gold.
Dlr top world currency but euro gaining-Duisenberg
European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg said on Friday that the dollar played a leading role among world currencies but the euro was gaining ground, despite initial disappointments.
Kenya cenbank says economic growth has slowed
Kenya's economic growth is estimated to have declined to 0.4% in the 12 months to August, from 1.4% in the previous year, the Central Bank of Kenya said.
Mersch-M3 scrutiny still key in ECB rate decisions
Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch, a member of the European Central Bank council, on Friday said that scrutiny of money supply retained a key role in the setting of monetary policy.
Japan needs easy monetary stance, says IMF
Japan's economy still has a problem with deflation, and the central bank should keep its easy monetary policy for a while longer, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday.
Riksbank's Heikensten sees inflation pressure
Swedish central bank first deputy governor Lars Heikensten said inflationary pressure in the country is growing and the central bank may have to raise interest rates as a result.
Venezuela reserves at highest for almost 3 years
During the last week, Venezuela's international reserves rose by 59m dollars to reach 17.34bn dollars, the central bank announced.