News
IMF OKs Colombia's 2001 economic program- fin min
The International Monetary Fund has approved Colombia's 2001 economic program, including a higher budget deficit goal of 2.8% of the gross domestic product, Finance Minister Juan Manuel Santos said Jan. 30, 2001. "The agreement basically consists of a…
Bush says will no longer comment on Fed
President George W. Bush said on Jan. 30, 2001, he had learned his lesson and will no longer comment on actions on short-term U.S. interest rates taken by the Federal Reserve. With the powerful central bank expected this week to cut borrowing costs by a…
Vacancies on the Court of the Bank of England
The following is a press release issue by the UK Treasury advertising vacancies in the Court of the Bank of England. The Court has a key role in reviewing the performance of the Monetary Policy Committee and managing the affairs of the Bank of England.
ECB-forex reserves almost unchanged at 260.9 bln
The European Central Bank said on Jan. 30, 2001, foreign currency reserves of the euro zone central banks in the week ending January 26 were "virtually unchanged," while its gold holdings were also unchanged. The net position of the ECB and euro zone…
Uganda's Mutebile warns speculators
The Governor, Bank of Uganda (BOU), Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, has warned against speculation in the foreign exchange marke. He said BOU is going to take action against the practice, because it hurts the economy.
Lithuania banks 2000 cap adequacy 16 pct
The Central Bank of Lithuania said on Jan. 30, 2001, the banking sector's capital adequacy at the end of 2000 was 16.42 percent versus 17.63 percent at the end of 1999, still well over the 10 percent minimum. The sector's liquidity at the end of December…
Isarescu agrees to Romania fin supervisory council
BNR governor, Mugur Isarescu on Jan. 30, 2001, stated he agreed with the idea of founding a banking supervising council outside the authority of the central bank. He told InfoPro that banking supervision has been so far "the weak point of BNR", reported…
Ghana's central bank to close all ailing banks
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has been taking efforts to close down all non-performing banks as part of its on-going activities to inject sanity and seriousness into the banking sector, according to reports Xinhua News Agency. In line with the new measures,…
Nigeria cbank explains MRR rise to 14.5%
The perceived excess liquidity in the financial system, which seems to defy all solutions, has been fingered as the reason why the Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) was raised from 14 to 14.5 per cent last week, according to reports from the African News…
New Egypt forex peg only valid as short-term fix
Egypt's introduction of a "managed peg" for pound-dollar rates may restore exchange rate stability in the short term but will be unsustainable and counterproductive in the long term, analysts said on Jan. 29, 2001. Under the new system the central bank…
Iran bank governor attacked from 'left and right'
According to a report in an Iranian newspaper, in recent weeks and months, political attacks on the Central Bank of Iran and the governor of the bank, Mohsen Nurbakhsh, have intensified dramatically. Analysts said that all political parties had agreed to…
Tonga shuffles cabinet, names new finance minister
The governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga has been appointed finance minister of the tiny South Pacific island nation. Siosiua 'Utoikamanu replaced Tutoatasi Fakafanua in the finance portfolio in a wider shake-up of Tonga's 11 member all-male…
Turkey 2001 FDI 'at least' $4bn - ctrl bk governor
Foreign direct investments into Turkey this year will total "at least $4 billion," Turkish central bank governor Gazi Ercel said Jan. 29. This "very high" level of funds will come from the sale of assets including mobile phone licenses by mid-February…
MAS issues insider trading law for consultation
Singapore revealed changes to insider trading laws that will penalize anyone who trades on the insider information regardless of whether the accused has any links to the company. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the markets regulator and central bank…
Swedish cbank signals steady rates as growth slows
Euro-outsider Sweden's central bank signalled on Jan. 29, 2001, its key repo rate would remain on hold at 4.00 percent, 75 basis points below the euro zone's steering rate, at this week's monetary policy meeting. Riksbank Governor Urban Backstrom said in…
Bank of Israel cuts Feb discount rate 30bp to 7.7%
The Bank of Israel said on Jan. 29, 2001, it would lower its discount rate for February by 30 basis points to 7.7% from 8%, saying inflation would be between 1% and 2.5% in 2001. The move is at the top end of forecasts for a cut of between 20 and 30…
Slovak c.bank says no room now for rate cuts
The Slovak central bank (NBS) said its board had left interest rates unchanged at a monetary policy meeting on Jan. 29, 2001, and that potential risks to consumer price growth left no room for rate cuts at present. The bank board said it did not see…
IMF to start exploratory talks with Romanian govt
The IMF will visit Bucharest in early February to discuss with the newly elected Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase how he plans to reduce inflation, restructure state-owned industries and create a healthier financial-banking system, the daily…
Indonesia bankers still unclear on forex rules
Indonesia's foreign bankers said a meeting with central bank officials late on Jan. 29, 2001, did little to clarify foreign rules which have baffled the market for two weeks. They said the bank promised to issue a circular within the next two days…
UK's CrestCo goes electronic
London's international settlement house, CrestCo, is proposing to take the risk and cost of errors out of processing takeovers in the UK by replacing the paper form-filling with an electronic process. The proposals for Takeover Procedures in Crest,…
Thai central bank cuts 2001 growth forecast
Thailand's central bank cut its forecast for 2001 gross domestic product (GDP) growth on Jan. 29, 2001, to 3-4.5 percent from a previous projection of 4-5.5 percent, blaming a U.S. economic slowdown and a faltering domestic recovery. "The evident…
BOJ Hayami-economy moderately recovering
Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami reiterated Jan. 29 that while the economy is gradually recovering, the pace of growth is slowing due to a fall off in exports. "The economy continues to moderately recover, but the tempo is easing due to a…