News
Euro critical when Issing goes missing?
Sunday 14 May's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung contained a portrait of ECB chief economist Otmar Issing under the headline "The preacher". Without Issing the euro could weaken considerably, it said.
How Bernanke's rate hikes could slam China
According to this article published Monday 15 May, China is realising the power of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on its way to ruling the global economy.
BoE's new money market framework
The Bank of England published on Monday 15 May the lists of banks and building societies participating at the launch of its new framework for implementing the Monetary Policy Committee's interest rate decisions.
Turkmenistan's central bank chief sacked
The Turkmen president on Saturday 13 May sacked the central bank governor on national television, saying he should go and become a teacher, according to Reuters.
Economist says yuan should be allowed to rise 5%
China has to speed up the pace of yuan appreciation to 5 percent for this year and ease its huge foreign exchange surplus if it wants to keep domestic bank lending under control, government researcher Zhu Baoliang told reporters on Monday 15 May.
RBM to lose 100 staff - report
About 100 people have been earmarked for retrenchment at Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) following the central bank's decision to outsource some of its services, The Daily Times reported on its website.
Richmond Fed welcomes chief HR officer
Tammy H. Cummings will join the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond as vice president of human resources for the Fifth District, effective 15 May.
China needs more central bank independence - IMF
A new paper from the International Monetary Fund says that China should adopt an explicit, long-run inflation objective, strengthen its banking sector, and give its central bank operational independence.
ECB pledges price stability, oil risks worsen
The article "ECB bankers pledge price stability, oil risks worsen" published Thursday 11 May says that the oil shock threatens to push up core inflation in the eurozone, a danger the European Central Bank ignores at its peril.
Hungary's Jarai calls budget 'undisciplined'
Hungary's central bank governor launched a strongly worded attack on the budgetary management of Hungary's socialist prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany on Thursday 11 May.
BoE's Walton sees more confidence in economy
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member David Walton was quoted on Friday 12 May as saying that policymakers are confident that the UK economy has clearly emerged from a soft patch early last year.
Chinese economists want increased gold reserves
Some Chinese economists are urging the government to increase its gold reserves to 2,500 tons from the current 600 tons because the country's foreign exchange reserves had become the world's largest, an official industry newspaper reported this week.
Turkey to stick with floating lira
The governor of Turkey's central bank said Friday 12 May that the bank would maintain its floating currency system but was closely monitoring foreign currency market developments, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Shabibi says Iraq's reforms are on track
The governor of the central bank of Iraq said on Thursday 11 May that solid progress was being made in reforming the country's financial sector despite ongoing disruptions and that enough reserves existed to defend the currency.
The little-noticed 'yet' in the Fed's statement
According to this article by John Berry, published Thursday 11 May, it was in the FOMC's statement explaining what may come next that "yet" appeared, signalling that after boosting the target at 16 consecutive meetings the committee probably will take a…
Fed raises rates to 5%
The Federal Open Market Committee decided Wednesday 10 May to raise its target for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 5 percent. In its statement the FOMC said "some further policy firming may yet be needed."
Swedish Riksbank's board unanimous on decision
The minutes of the Swedish Riksbank's monetary policy meeting on 27 April showed it was unanimous in its decision to leave the repo rate unchanged at 2%.
Austria's Liebscher says oil biggest eurozone risk
Austrian national bank governor Klaus Liebscher told reporters on Thursday 11 May that high oil prices pose the biggest threat to the eurozone economy.
China's yuan progress 'far too little'
The US government on Wednesday 10 May did not accuse China of manipulating the value of its currency, but said Beijing had made "far too little progress" in adopting a flexible exchange rate.
Why economists worry about foreign reserves
According to the article "Why economists worry about who holds foreign currency reserves" published Tuesday 9 May, the idea that China or some other American rival could someday use its vast holdings of U.S. debt as a geopolitical weapon is gaining…
Asia's savings glut keeps its bond markets tiny
According to this article published Wednesday 10 May, it is a puzzle why global investors hold almost no debt denominated in Asian currencies when they snap up fixed-income securities that pay in Uruguayan pesos or Brazilian reais.
BoJ names new executive director for operations
The Bank of Japan said Tuesday 9 May that it has promoted Hajime Mizuno, director-general of the BoJ's operations department, to the post of executive director in charge of operations and payment and settlement systems.
Afghan bank keeps currency strong with dollars
Afghanistan's central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, supplies 10 million U.S. dollars each week to bazaar in order to keep the value of the Afghani currency strong, the president of the bank said Sunday 7 May.
IMF says China to benefit from yuan appreciation
China's economy will benefit from a government decision to allow greater exchange rate flexibility for the yuan, according to an IMF economist.