Opinion
IRAQ - Monetary analysis
IRAQ - The Central Bank of Iraq operates directly under the instruction of the government. As its activities are rather opaque, any analysis of policy is somewhat speculative, reports Quest Economics Database 27 March.
The recession that almost was
FEATURE - It is easy to dismiss the recent global downturn as a false alarm but policymakers should learn from it, says Kenneth Rogoff in Friday's Financial Times.
ECB's French connection is still fuzzy
FEATURE - The next president of the European Central Bank will be a Frenchman, but the question is: Which one?, asks the Wall Street Journal, 3 April.
The big problem of small change
FEATURE - It is a curious fact, writes Paul Podolsky in Thursday's Wall Street Journal Europe, that the world's most trusted currency, the dollar, represents a claim on an asset no more tangible than the faith of the U.S. government. The same is true for…
Expansion of Japanese broad money supply
LETTER - In a letter published in Thursday's Financial Times a chief economist explains how the Japanese money supply is increasing through commercial banks buying of government debt as a result of low demand for loans.
Keep floating, stop worrying
FEATURE - The real case for an independent pound has nothing to do with ultra-nationalism or hostility to Europe writes Samuel Brittan in Thursday's Financial Times. He suggests the British government allow use of the euro as a parallel currency and…
Central bank still basking in Communism
FEATURE - In Russia, "independence" is usually understood as the right to act with impunity and "control" as state intervention. These peculiarities of our national perception of reality were fully in evidence during the recent skirmish over the…
Pakistan work to establish modern financial system
FEATURE - As Afghanistan rebuilds, industrialized nations around the world are paying close attention to attempts by neighboring Pakistan to modernize its financial system, reports Nikkei Weekly.
Russia's new central banker in TV interview
FEATURE - Bank deposits in Russia should be at least partially guaranteed by the state. In return, the banks should submit to tighter supervision and higher standards, which will increase public confidence in Russia's banks, the new chairman of Russia's…
Phasing out the euro with e-money
FEATURE - Now that the physical euro has been successfully introduced, it is time to press ahead with the next phase - getting rid of the physical euro.
The long and short of it for central banks
FEATURE - Never mind the question about when and how far they should follow the US FOMC. Asian central banks have their hands full at the long end of the curve at the moment.
The increasingly transparent Greenspan fed
FEATURE - Tuesday's decision by the Federal Open Market Committee that it would announce the roll call of the vote on the federal funds rate target, including the policy choice of any dissenters after each meeting, was the latest veil in its legendary…
Banks face loyalty dilemma
FEATURE - With all the fuss about terrorist finance, it's sometimes easy to forget that the argument about how to track dirty money is a very old one indeed.
Russia's new central bank chief
FEATURE - Promising little change to exchange-rate policy but progress on stalled banking change, Sergei Ignatyev was overwhelmingly elected Russia's Central Bank chief Wednesday by the lower house of parliament.
Saga of the convicted central bank governor
FEATURE - Bank Indonesia, which until early February still rejected Bank Bali claims as ineligible, suddenly reversed its policy. Erman Munzir, director of the banking development division at the central bank, at Pande's request, assigned a special team…
Central banker wins raves for straight talk
FEATURE - One year, a recessionette and 10 interest rate cuts later, and David Dodge, the governor of the Bank of Canada, has probably said more about the Canadian economy - and more candidly - than his predecessor did in two years.
Regulators and the gentle art of persuasion
LETTER - A letter published in the London edition of the Financial Times on Friday.
History shows East Europe pitfalls on way to euro
FEATURE - Investors are already betting Eastern Europe's road to the euro will be remarkably short, but the history of European monetary union shows just how many hairpin bends and potholes still litter the way.
The road to the euro for Eastern Europe
FEATURE - Eastern European states are not only on course to join the European Union but will also join the European single currency in the years to come says a report by Reuters.
Single currency outsiders united in sport
LETTER - A letter published in Monday's Financial Times suggests that the forthcoming football world cup has important implications for membership of the euro.
The Japanese economy - Buying time
FEATURE - The Japanese government's latest package of emergency measures to prop up the ailing economy will not meet its goal of reining in the crippling deflation afflicting the nation's battered companies and debt-paralysed banks. But it will likely…
How long will Swiss SNB lay golden eggs?
FEATURE - The Swiss National Bank has decided to lay golden eggs for a while, but will the goose have the guts to say "no" once the party's over?
A very big shoe to fill - A successor to Greenspan
FEATURE - The Economist magazine, 9 March, reports on the search to replace the chairman of the US Federal Reserve - Time to groom an heir for Alan Greenspan.
Why Greenspan allowed irrational exuberance
FEATURE - Why Greenspan allowed irrational exuberance - The Federal Reserve's past reluctance to crack down on a runaway bull market raises questions about its remit.