News
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Schedules for the meetings of the Governing Council and the General Council of the ECB and the related press conferences in 2003, 20 June.
Vision not aggression says Polish c bank chief
POLAND - "There is no conflict between the Polish central bank and the government when it comes to real economic issues. What we see is the government's aggression against an independent state institution, something unheard of in the civilized world. In…
Effort made to bring Poland closer to eurozone
POLAND - The Finance Ministry and the Central Bank (NBP) have set up a joint group on the strategy of bringing the Polish economy closer to the Eurozone, which will discuss issues related to the zloty exchange rate strategy in the period of entering the…
Issing - Stability pact talk extremely detrimental
GERMANY - The debate on modifying the EU's stability pact is "extremely detrimental," said European Central Bank chief economist Otmar Issing in an interview with German weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
SA Reserve Bank to learn about inflation targeting
SOUTH AFRICA - Experts from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) are to learn more about inflation targeting from their Canadian counterparts, in terms of an agreement signed in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes from the Bank of England's MPC meeting 5 and 6 June, released 19 June. The committee acknowledged the continuing economic recovery in the United States and the euro area's modest 0.2% growth in the first quarter.
Fraga - Single digit real interest rates feasible
BRAZIL - Central Bank Chairman Arminio Fraga said it is feasible for the next administration to achieve single-digit real interest rates, official news agency Agencia Brasil reported.
Independent NBP will consider weaker zloty
POLAND - President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who last week agreed to become a mediator between the government and the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), after meeting the latter on Tuesday, has confirmed his dedication to the independence of Poland's central…
Chinese central banker - card development vital
CHINA - The Vice-Governor of the People's Bank of China Xiao Gang said Tuesday that the increased acceptance of banking cards was vital to raising commercial banks' competitiveness and facilitating daily life for the public.
Argentina to offer bonds for savings
ARGENTINA - Thousands of savers in Argentina have been given a month to decide if they want to swap their bank deposits for government bonds.
IMF to support Uruguay and Brazil
US - The International Monetary Fund has moved to provide financial help to Uruguay and Brazil, both affected by the crisis in Argentina.
Iran proposes change to central bank leadership
IRAN - The future of the post of Central Bank governor is still ambiguous in Iran, reports the Kayhan News website in Tehran.
China's gold exchange to open next month
CHINA - China's long-awaited liberalisation of the tightly controlled gold market will kick off with the opening of the Shanghai Gold Exchange next month, an exchange official has said.
Slovak central bank's intervention successful
SLOVAKIA - The National Bank of Slovakia succeeded in propping up the koruna after intervening twice on Monday to support the beleaguered currency. Dealers say that it spent between 40-60m euros in the process.
Brazil cb to wait to sell long term debt next year
BRAZIL - The Brazilian central bank is likely to wait until 2003 until it begins selling its longer-dated public debt again. Two weeks ago the government began to swap long-dated government securities for short-term debt to counter the growing reluctance…
Eurozone inflation to end yr above 2% says Caruana
SPAIN - Jaime Caruana, governor of the Banco de Espana and member of the ECB board said that inflation in the euro zone this year has been worse than expected. Although he said that it would be difficult to assess where it would head in the medium term,…
Trichet says France wont balance budget by 2004
FRANCE - Jean-Claude Trichet, the governor of the Banque de France, suggested that it is unlikely that France will manage to clean up its budget deficit by 2004 when he agreed with finance minister Francis Mer's comments that to achieve this will take…
Eurozone inflation falls within ECB target of 2%
BELGIUM - Inflation in the euro zone slowed sharply to 2% in May, Eurostat confirmed on Tuesday. The drop put inflation within the upper limit of the European Central Bank's inflation target of 2%.
Parry said Fed can be "deliberative" over rates
USA - San Francisco Federal Reserve President Robert Parry said that doubt over how long the current "modest expansion" would last leaves the Federal Reserve room to be "deliberative" over hiking interest rates.
Weak demand damaged German economy says Welteke
GERMANY - Ernst Welteke, governor of the Bundesbank, believes that a recovery is on its way in the German economy, but that limp consumer demand is hindering its pace. He said demand for German exports and a stronger global economy would help "the German…
Argentina pledges not to use reserves to repay IMF
ARGENTINA - Economy minister Roberto Lavagna has assured the IMF technical mission currently visiting the country that central bank reserves will not be used to pay back loans from the IMF and the Inter-American Development Bank which are due to mature…
Bank Indonesia and govt to resolve loan dispute
INDONESIA - Bank Indonesia is close to putting an end to a dispute with the government which has continued for two years. A final agreement has yet to be reached to this problem which is rooted in the billions of dollars in liquidity support channeled to…
Chinese currency now convertible in Nepal
NEPAL - Nepal Rastra Bank for the first time today fixed its exchange rate at nine rupees to one Chinese yuan. Governor Dr Tilak Rawal and Chinese Ambassador Wu Congyong signed the free convertibility accord on Monday.
Venezuela widens fiscal deficit target to 3% GDP
VENEZUELA - Central bank chairman Domingo Maza Zavala has announced that the government has widened its 2002 fiscal deficit target to 3% of GDP from 2.7% due to lower than expected tax receipts.