News
SARB appoints Ian Plenderleith as deputy governor
The South African Reserve Bank said Thursday that it has appointed Ian Plenderleith as a deputy governor with effect from 1 January 2003. Until May 2002 this year Plenderleith was a member of the Bank of England's interest rate setting Monetary Policy…
ECB's Liebscher: Rates appropriate, econ improving
Austrian National Bank Governor and European Central Bank governing council member Klaus Liebscher said interest rates are appropriate for the medium term, although they could still be lowered if need be. In an interview he also defended the ECB's two…
Bank of England Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Sale of Bank of England Banknote Printing Operations, 17 December.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Meeting released on 18 December for the meeting of 4 and 5 December 2002. The nine MPC members voted on a proposal to maintain the repo rate at 4.0%. Seven voted in favour of this with…
Chicago Fed's Economic Outlook Symposium
REPORT - Economic growth in 2003 will be slightly above the rate in 2002, while the unemployment rate will be unchanged and inflation will be higher next year, according to the median forecast of participants at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's…
Gov't man gains control of Russian central bank
First Deputy Prime Minister / Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has become the head of the National Banking Council - the Russian central bank's advisory board. The appointment is likely to give the government increased influence over the activities of the…
Kuchma sacks Ukraine's central bank chairman
Meeting at an undisclosed location, President Leonid Kuchma's supporters voted to replace the chairman of the central bank Volodymyr Stelmakh and 19 parliamentary committees on Tuesday. The past couple of weeks have seen several attempts to oust Stelmakh…
Brazil central bank nominee heads for hearings
Henrique Meirelles, nominated to be Brazil's next central bank president, on Tuesday goes before Congress for confirmation hearings. He is expected to face tough questioning on monetary policy but ultimately be approved for the job, analysts said.
Turkish cen bank ready for US operation on Iraq
Turkey's central bank governor Sureyya Serdengecti said Tuesday that the central bank was fully prepared for the possible economic fallout of a United States operation against Iraq.
Uproar over Bank vote halts Ukraine parl't
Angry scenes in Ukraine's parliament forced the chamber to adjourn Wednesday as furious opposition members denounced a vote appointing a central bank governor favoured by President Leonid Kuchma to replace Volodymyr Stelmakh.
Trichet trial will not face delay - starts January
A French prosecutor has chosen not to seek new inquiries into the Credit Lyonnais case, averting the risk of a delayed trial for Jean-Claude Trichet that could have spoiled plans to make him European Central Bank chief next July, a lawyer said on…
Bank of Japan says recovery not expected soon
The Bank of Japan Wednesday left its core economic assessment for December unchanged from November in its December monthly report, repeating that Japan's economy has bottomed but there is strong uncertainty over the economy's future course.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - New RBNZ senior manager to be sought, 13 December.
UK inflation rate hits four-year high of 2.8%
UK inflation jumped in November to its highest level in more than four years. In its recent inflation report the Bank of England said that the rate was likely to rise in the short term but fall back towards the 2.5 per cent target at the end of 2003.
BOJ keeps monetary policy steady
The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged on Tuesday but stepped up its support for the funding of small businesses in an effort to prevent banking sector paralysis from causing an economic crisis.
ECB overhaul raises hopes of softer price target
The ECB has often been criticised as slow to react with interest rate moves. But with the constraint of a narrow inflation target its hands have been tied, restricting its ability to provide the euro zone economies with the stimulus they need. But now we…
Bundesbank chief sees chance of further rates
Despite the ECB's recent rate cut, Ernst Welteke, the Bundesbank president, said Monday that the European Central Bank still had some leeway on interest rates, although monetary conditions were already favourable for eurozone growth.
ECB's Papademos backs inflation target
Recent criticism that the European Central Bank's inflation target is too ambitious is unwarranted, ECB Vice President Lucas Papademos said on Monday. His comments appear to go against the proposed re-appraisal of the Bank's inflation target.
Belgium sees electronic banking on the rise
Some 12.5 billion Belgian francs have still not been exchanged for euros, nearly a year after the single currency was introduced, according to the latest report from the country's central bank Monday.
Ukraine's central bank head admitted to hospital
The head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Volodymyr Stelmakh, was admitted to the Feofaniya hospital (in Kiev) at about noon (1000 gmt) Tuesday, a news agency reported from the hospital director, Volodymyr Svyrydov.
Central bank pledges support for Saddam Hussain
At the end of the second conference for Iraqi banks on Monday the Governor of Iraq's central bank, Ossam Rashid Howash pledged his support for President Saddam Hussein.
Bank of Estonia prepares for ECB transfer system
The Bank of Estonia has launched preparations to accession to TARGET, the Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system of the European Central Bank.
Bank of Japan Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Announcement of the Monetary Policy Meeting, 17 December.
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee
MINUTES - The Federal Reserve on 12 December released the minutes of its FOMC meeting of 6 November. The minutes reveal last months half-point interest rate cut was taken "to ensure that the current soft spot in the economy would prove to be temporary"…