News
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting 6 and 7 February 2002. Released 20 February.
ECB PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE - Manual on "Accession countries: balance of payments/ international investment position statistical methods", 20 February.
Russia finishes real-time payment system
RUSSIA - According to Tatyana Paramonova, first deputy chairwoman of the Central Bank of Russia, the real-time payment system is 80% complete in Russia.
ECB eyeing council revamp ahead of enlargement
GERMANY - The European Central Bank is studying draft proposals on how the bank should be governed once several eastern European nations join the euro zone later this decade, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
BOE minutes - MPC voted 7-2 to hold repo rate 4.0%
UK - Seven members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the repo rate on hold at 4.0% in February, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday.
Colombian c bank report 2001 net income of $533.7m
COLOMBIA - The Colombian central bank posted 2001 net income of 1.22 trillion pesos ($533.7 million), officials said.
Quaden - Rates appropriate for foreseeable future
BELGIUM - The euro-zone economy has bottomed out and recovery should start in the second half of this year, with some countries seeing a rebound already in the second quarter, European Central Bank governing council member Guy Quaden said Tuesday.
Swedish c.banker says inflation expectation stable
SWEDEN - Inflation expectations in Sweden are stable and other economic indicators, too, are in good shape, Swedish central bank deputy governor Kristina Persson said on Wednesday.
UK could join euro in less than 2 years
UK - Britain could introduce euro notes and coins less than two years after a single currency referendum, Peter Hain said on Tuesday.
Nations start line up for Washington rollover
UK - The announcement last week that Wim Duisenberg is to retire as head of the European Central Bank, and the comments by Bundesbank governor Ernst Welteke Tuesday that Germany may sell some of its gold, has revived industry speculation that the…
Shortlist narrows for vice-presidency of ECB
BELGIUM - The field of candidates for one of Europe's top policymaking posts, the European Central Bank's vice-presidency, narrowed yesterday after a potential front-runner from Belgium declared himself unavailable for the job.
Third Joint Central Bank Research Conference
CONFERENCE - CGFS Research Conference Programme and submitted papers: Risk Measurement and Systemic Risk.
Quaden - I'm not candidate for ECB vice presidency
BELGIUM - Belgian Central Bank Head Guy Quaden Tuesday ended weeks of speculation, saying he isn't a candidate to replace Christian Noyer as vice president of the European Central Bank.
Austrian c.banker seen as candidate for ECB
AUSTRIA - The Austrian National Bank's 49-year old deputy governor, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, could be a candidate to replace Finnish ECB board member Sirkka Hamalainen, who is in charge of the ECB's money market operations, an Austrian weekly magazine…
U.S. German wages risks to German upturn - Welteke
GERMANY - European Central Bank council member Ernst Welteke said on Monday an upcoming wage round and uncertainty about the U.S. economy were risks to an upturn of the Germany economy.
Reform fears hit Tokyo markets
Japan - Two Japanese economy ministers have dashed hopes of an injection of public money into Japan's ailing banking system.
Venezuela 'declares war' on speculators
VENEZUELA - Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has declared a "war on speculators" as prices rose after last week's currency devaluation.
IMF urged to help Argentina
ARGENTINA - The South American trade bloc, Mercosur, has appealed to international lenders to do more to help Argentina as it draws up a plan to rescue the economy.
BoE's George plays down talk of jump in UK rates
UK - Bank of England Governor Sir Edward George warned financial markets on Tuesday they should not get too carried away with the idea that British interest rates are set to rise sharply this year.
Bank of Latvia awarded as most creative State Bank
LATVIA - The Bank of Latvia received Vreneli prize at the World Money Fair in Basel, Switzerland, as the most creative state bank, a spokesman said.
Asian economies on the mend
ASIA - While many of Asia's economies are stagnating or deep in recession, anecdotal evidence emerges from Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia that a recovery could be under way.
UK and Italy in new alliance
UK - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi have agreed in principle on a common position for lifting regulations on European labour and energy markets during a summit in Rome.
Armenia's central bank sends open letter to papers
ARMENIA - Chairman of Armenia's Central Bank Tigran Sargsyan sent an open letter to the editors-in-chief of the Aravot and Haykakan Zhamanak Armenian dailies.
Sanctions threat to 'opaque' tax haven
UK - The government is considering imposing sanctions on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, if it fails to comply with international action to force tax havens to improve financial transparency.