News
China links bank cashpoints to meet WTO challenge
CHINA - China launched an electronic network on Tuesday to link the cash machines of major banks for the first time, hoping the customer-friendly service will help Chinese banks fend off fierce foreign competition.
Central bank free to sell exchange swaps
BRAZIL - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) discloses today a memorandum revising its accord with Brazil.
Minutes of Japan's Monetary Policy Meeting
MINUTES - Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes from the 7 and 8 February, released 26 March.
New governor appointed at the Bank of Korea
SOUTH KOREA - Park Seung has been appointed as the next governor of the Bank of Korea. He will take over at the beginning of April after current governor Chon Chol-hwan's four-year term ends on 31 March.
MPC over-estimates inflation threat, research says
UK - The Bank of England's monetary policy committee has consistently over-estimated the threat of higher inflation, according to research to be presented today at the Royal Economic Society's annual conference.
Poll gives full marks to swift action of Fed
US - The US economy is highly unlikely to slip back into recession, but its recovery had far more to do with lower interest rates than tax cuts, according to a survey of leading economists issued yesterday.
Argentina sets new forex controls to prop up peso
ARGENTINA - Argentina's Central Bank on Monday introduced measures to tighten controls on the foreign exchange market in an effort to stop record falls in the peso that had threatened to throw the government's economic policy into turmoil.
Wadhwani - Current high interest rate policy risky
UK - Rising household debt and the possibility of a depreciation in sterling's exchange rate aren't sufficient grounds to keep interest rates higher than necessary, said one of the Bank of England's nine interest-rate setters Monday.
S Africa c bank reiterate difference with Zimbabwe
SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa's central bank reiterated on Monday the factors that distinguished its economy from neighbouring Zimbabwe, whose woes have dented investor confidence in the region and adversely hit the rand.
Gerashchenko stays with central bank
RUSSIA - Viktor Gerashchenko, former chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, plans to take the post of an economic adviser at the Scientific and Research Institute of the Bank of Russia reports Novecon.
China central bank chief to visit Japan this week
JAPAN - People's Bank of China Governor Dai Xianglong will visit Japan this week to sign a bilateral currency swap pact, Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said Monday.
Fraga defends more flexible account inviolability
BRAZIL - More flexible rules for breaking bank account inviolability, allied with a solid international cooperation among banks and government financial institutions, is a fundamental weapon to combat money laundering in the world, according to Central…
BNB aims at more effective control of gold reserve
BULGARIA - The board of governors of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is engaged in continuous debates on the options for a more effective management of Bulgaria's monetary gold reserves, deputy governor Martin Zaimov told reporters.
ECB's Issing says high Greek inflation "worrying"
GREECE - Greece's higher than eurozone average inflation is a "worrying development" that poses problems to Greek competitiveness, European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing said on Sunday.
Independence vital for Russia's central bank - PM
RUSSIA - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the Central Bank of Russia must be independent.
Germany creates super-regulator, reform Bundesbank
GERMANY - Germany's parliament agreed on Friday to sweeping changes on how the country's financial markets are supervised and run and, against expectations, passed a law that will shrink management at the once-mighty Bundesbank, report Reuters.
Welteke flags Buba may sell gold, buy stocks
GERMANY - Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke on Monday surprised central bank watchers by signalling the bank might consider selling part of its gold reserves and reinvesting the proceeds in shares as well as in bonds.
ECB urges independence of central banks
UK - For central and eastern European countries keen to enter the eurozone, the European Central Bank has a message: be patient, continue to pursue economic reforms and, at all costs, do not undermine the independence of your central banks.
Facelift for the greenback
US - Redback, pinkback, and blueback may not have quite the same ring as greenback. Nevertheless, US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is considering plans to replace the famously green hue of dollar notes with a rainbow of seven different colours.
Federal Open Market Committee Meeting - Minutes
MINUTES - The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released the minutes of its Federal Open Market Committee Meeting from 29-30 January 2002, released 21 March.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand News Release
NEWS RELEASE - OCR increased to 5 per cent, 20 March.
Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meetings, 20 March
NEWS RELEASE - At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Bank of Japan decided, by majority vote, to maintain the following guideline for money market operations for the intermeeting period:
Fed discussed dropping its tilt towards rate cuts
US - The Federal Reserve considered "unconventional" actions at its January monetary policy meeting in case its anti-recession campaign did not work and discussed abandoning its official leaning towards cutting short-term interest rates, minutes released…
Argentine peso falls as c bank gears to sell debt
ARGENTINA - Argentina's peso (ARS) opened weaker Friday as the central bank began selling money-market instruments in pesos and dollars to curb the currency's fall.