Opinion
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.
Comment: Relaxing capital constraints
Indian policymakers surprised analysts and market participants alike this week by announcing their intention to ease capital restrictions and make the rupee fully convertible. The Indian experience with capital and exchange rate liberalisation bears some…
Warsh, youngest-ever Fed governor
According to the article "Warsh, youngest-ever Fed governor, is also one of the richest" published Friday 17 March, Kevin Warsh, and his wife, an heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, have at least $65.3 million in assets.
Comment: Governance and modernisation
A new IMF working paper argues that giving central banks more independence is a powerful way of enhancing corporate governance in these institutions. Although the paper's rigorous empirical approach may help to confirm this uncontroversial insight, its…
Comment: The benefits of supervisory integration
A new IMF working paper investigates the trend toward integrating the regulation and supervision of banks, non-bank financial institutions and securities markets. The authors attempt to fill a gap in the literature by empirically assessing the impact…
Bet on the Fed pausing at 5 percent
Federal Reserve officials seem more likely to pause in raising their target for the overnight lending rate when it reaches 5 percent than to push it up to 5.5 percent, according to this article published Wednesday 15 March.
Interview with Malta's Bonello
In a recent interview, Michael C Bonello, governor of the Central Bank of Malta, talks about the challenges faced by the Maltese economy ahead of euro adoption and their implications for monetary policy.