News
Minutes of Bank of England MPC meeting 3-4 October
MINUTES - The Bank of England has published the minutes from its Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on 3 and 4 October.
Minutes of Bank of England special MPC meeting
MINUTES - The Bank of England has published the minutes from its special Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on 18 September.
Sweden's Riksbank leaves repo rate unchanged
SWEDEN - Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, left its key repo rate unchanged at 3.75% Tuesday 16 October, as expected, in conjunction with the release of its latest inflation report.
Thai central bank head: IMF satisfied with rates
THAILAND - The governor of the Bank of Thailand, Pridiyathorn Devakula, said Monday 15 October that the management team of the International Monetary Fund was satisfied with the level of the bank's policy signalling interest rate.
Hearing on nominees to US Fed set for 17 Oct
US - The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on 17 October to consider two candidates for the Federal Reserve Board, a Senate aide said on Friday 12 October.
EU candidates told not to focus only on inflation
UK - Central banks in countries seeking to join the European Union should ensure that their battle against inflation doesn't harm economic growth, a senior official at the European Central Bank said.
Fed's Ferguson - Long term US econ prospects sound
US - Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson on Tuesday said the U.S. economy's longer-term prospects "remain sound," but said it is not known how long it will be before U.S. economic growth begins to recover from the events of 11 September.
ECB's Issing: Unlikely HICP below 2% by end 2001
GERMANY - European Central Bank Chief Economist and Executive Board member Otmar Issing said Monday 15 October that third quarter euro-zone growth figures to be published by Eurostat in December aren't likely to be encouraging.
Deadline passes for banks to meet new rules
BRAZIL - Last Friday 12 October saw the passage of the deadline for banks to meet the decision of the National Monetary Council (CMN), taken at its last meeting, demanding that the institutions have more equity to meet operations with foreign exchange…
Egypt's central bank deputy becomes temporary head
EGYPT - Egypt's deputy central bank governor, Mahmoud Abu Al-Ayoun, is standing in as the governor of the bank until a new one is appointed to replace Ismail Hassan, a central bank official said Monday 15 October.
BOE Oct minutes: MPC voted 8-1 to cut repo rate
UK - The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to cut the repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% in October, just weeks after it had cut rates by an equal amount in a 7-2 vote, according to minutes of those meetings released…
Why China needs a real central bank
ARTICLE - On paper, the People's Bank of China is in charge of monetary affairs - In reality, its authority is emasculated by party politics - a huge liability as WTO entry nears.
Meyer: Basel rules take time, need bank support
US - New rules on risk management and bank capital standards will take longer to set up than either banks or regulators want but they are too complicated to rush, Federal Reserve Governor Laurence Meyer said in a speech on Monday 15 October.
Sharp fall in UK inflation revealed
UK - The headline rate of UK inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, fell last month by 0.4 of a percentage point to 1.7%.
Conference targets terror funds
CANADA - An international conference on money laundering opens in Montreal late on Monday 15 October, aimed at helping countries harmonise their approaches to tackling the issue.
Bank of Japan issues grim outlook
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan, as widely expected, downgraded its assessment of the economy, citing a continued tumble in output and exports, deteriorating job and income conditions, and an increasingly bleak economic outlook following the 11 September…
Japan's central bank warns on economy
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan has warned that the country's economy is facing "more severe" adjustments, with the "terrorist attacks in the US... further [heightening] uncertainty".
Banks tighten monitoring use of capital in Taiwan
TAIWAN - Many banks in Taiwan will further tighten monitoring the movements of funds lent to enterprises to prevent borrowers from wiring the money they get from the banks abroad and then left their debts in Taiwan.
Poland's Miller denies plan to curb central bank
POLAND - Poland's Prime Minister designate Leszek Miller denied in a radio interview that his future coalition government had agreed to curb the central bank's independence if it does not cut interest rates by 600 basis points over the next six months,…
Japan's policy board keep monetary policy same
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan's policy board voted Friday 12 October to keep monetary policy unchanged, brushing aside mounting domestic and international pressure for the BOJ to flood the banking system with more cash to help support the sagging economy.
Duisenberg calls for 12 more months as ECB leader
GERMANY - Wim Duisenberg has virtually ruled out any prospect that he would step down as European Central Bank president halfway through his term by making clear he wanted to stay in his job for at least the next 12 months.
Vietnam's gold prices soar again after US strikes
VIETNAM - Local gold prices shot up to VND5.3 million a tael (37.5 grammes) on Monday morning before settling down to VND5.27 million a tael in the afternoon following the US-led air strikes on Afghanistan.
Noyer: E european c banks should aim for growth
POLAND - Central banks in countries seeking to join the European Union should ensure that their battle against inflation doesn't harm economic growth, a senior official at the European Central Bank said in a speech on Monday 15 October.
Fed's Meyer says attacks raise surplus doubts
US - Federal Reserve Gov. Laurence Meyer said in a speech on Friday 12 October the 11 September attacks on U.S. financial and military landmarks have raised sharply uncertainties about future federal budget surpluses.