Opinion
Comment: A 'new multilateral approach'
The weekend's announcement of an enhanced IMF role in "multilateral surveillance and consultation" is an important conceptual shift in the way the Fund operates. It is also the closest leading economic leaders have come to acknowledging that global…
Comment: Sweden sheds reserve dollars
The Swedish Riksbank dropped a bit of a bombshell on international currency markets on Friday 21 April by announcing a significant reduction in the share of dollars and yen in its foreign reserves portfolio. Although Sweden has a relatively small…
Comment: Transparent monetary policy
The "transparency revolution" in modern monetary policy is little over a decade old. Just recently, some commentators have started to ask whether this development can go too far. Although it certainly could in theory, it probably hasn't yet.
Comment: IMF reform checklist
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday 19 April released its latest World Economic Outlook. Its central projection sees global growth at 4.75 percent in 2006 and 2007. The distribution of risks, however, is increasingly slanted to the downside.
Comment: New governor for CBRT
The appointment of Durmus Yilmaz as governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey brings to an end weeks of turmoil as the government struggled to find a successor to the inflation-busting Sureyya Serdengecti.
Comment: BCCI case 'a farce'
According to the presiding judge, the case brought against the Bank of England by Deloitte, liquidators for the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), was "a farce" which "had the capacity to damage the reputation of [the British] legal system…
Comment: The IMF's Global FSR
The IMF yesterday unveiled its latest Global Financial Stability Report at the Bank of England head office in London. "The near-term outlook is as good as it gets," Gerd Hausler, director of the IMF's capital markets unit, said at the press conference.
Comment: Sparks continue to fly in Poland
Sparks continue to fly between the president of the National Bank of Poland, Leszek Balcerowicz, and the ruling Law and Justice Party. While a controversial bank merger, which the government tried to block, has now been approved, tension remains high as…
Comment: The IMF's challenge
Raghuram Rajan, the IMF's economic counsellor and director of research, said in a speech Monday 10 April at the Kiel Institute that "as the reserves of advanced emerging markets fall, they may well want to re-engage with the Fund". Behind these remarks…
Comment: The US housing puzzle
A new NBER working paper finds that there is "little evidence" of housing bubbles in the US. The authors argue that even in the highest-price cities, housing is perhaps only slightly more expensive than average.
Comment: Exposed currencies cause jitters
The Central Bank of Iceland raised interest rates by 75 basis points last week. The central bank is concerned over the possibility of further declines in the Icelandic krona, which has fallen 12% against the US dollar this year.
Comment: Developments in March
March was an eventful month in central banking circles. The Bank of Japan put an end to its "quantitative easing" policy and attention now turns to the timing of its first interest rate increase.
Comment: More of the same from Bernanke
The Fed completed its first monetary policy meeting under the chairmanship of Ben Bernanke on Tuesday 28 March. The 25 basis point increase - taking US rates to 4.75% - was a mere formality, but Fed watchers were preparing to pore over the accompanying…
Comment: 'Impasse' over CBK governor's position
A spokesperson for the Central Bank of Kenya has told CentralBankNews that the current wrangling between the central bank and the government has reached "an impasse". The governor of the central bank, Andrew Mullei, has been charged with four counts of…
Bernanke ponders his course
According to this article published on Thursday 23 March, the way ahead for the Fed's policy committee is less obvious now. The US central bank has a new captain, Ben Bernanke, several new crew members and an increasingly uncertain course to steer, it…
Comment: Trouble brews in Turkey
The political row over the appointment of a new governor for the Central Bank of Turkey threatens to disrupt to the country's financial markets. More fundamentally, the mere suggestion that whoever emerges from the episode as the next governor is a…
Gold and foreign exchange reserves
According to the article "What percentage should gold in foreign exchange reserves be?" published Monday 20 March, currencies have a poor history and it is infinitely wise to protect against the worst possible eventuality.
Comment: Park Seung's term expires
Lee Seong-tae is likely to be confirmed as the new governor of the Bank of Korea next week. The incumbent governor, Park Seung, leaves the central bank calling for more independence from the government for his successor.
Money, sex, happiness come to the Bank of England
It was announced this week that David Blanchflower will replace Stephen Nickell on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from 1 June. This article published on Friday 24 March looks at a research paper Blanchflower co-authored.
Interview with Bank Indonesia's Gultom
In an interview published Friday 24 March, Bank Indonesia's senior deputy governor Miranda Gultom said the central bank plans to encourage an expansion of Islamic Shariah financing to boost the development of the country's small- and medium-sized…
CBN Comment on UK Budget
Three little-noticed items from the budget delivered March 22 by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, will be of interest to central banks and market regulators.
Comment: The 'yield conundrum' revisited
Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, made it clear in a speech earlier this week that he is no closer than his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, to making sense of the 'yield conundrum'.
Bernanke qualifies message in the yield curve
According to this article published Wednesday 22 March, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke would not have been pleased with the press reports which followed his address to the Economic Club of New York on Monday night.
G. William Miller led Fed in Carter years
According to this obituary published on Monday 20 March, former Federal Reserve chairman G. William Miller helped transform textiles company Textron Inc. into a global force, and was also active in civic life and political organisations.