Opinion
Too much credit?
ARTICLE - Despite a plunge in US consumer confidence over the new year, it now seems that 2001 will see not a recession, but modest growth in the US. Nothing to worry about then? Well no.
THE BIS REPORT
ANNUAL REPORT - CENTRALBANKNET'S SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT'S 71st ANNUAL REPORT 2000/01.
Interview with Horst Kohler
INTERVIEW - Following a string of financial crises from Mexico through Asia to Argentina, the reputation of the International Monetary Fund has taken a severe beating. IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler admits the fund may have made mistakes in the past,…
Bank Indonesia Real Time Gross Settlement BI-RTGS
ARTICLE - Bank Indonesia began operating a Real Time Gross Settlement system in Bandung area on 5 June. With this system, inter-bank payments are settled in real time where the participant bank's accounts can be debited/credited several times per day.
Euro is a safeguard for UK
ARTICLE - Soon to depart Bank of England MPC member DeAnne Julius sees the euro as a safeguard for UK industry. Speaking recently she considers her own future, Britain's European prospects and the set-up at the ECB.
UK General Election - Conservative pledges
UK - The UK Conservative party have published their manifesto. In it they spell out what they would do if elected to government in the general election to be held on 7 June. Michael Portillo,the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, sets out their policies.
UK General Election - Labour pledges
UK - The UK Labour party published its election manifesto on 15 May. They review their changes made to the Bank of England and describe their policy on the single european currency, the euro.
Currency Crises: the Role of Banks
This IMF working paper, by Piti Disyatat examines the aftermath of recent currency crises. Why did the developed countries which devalued during the ERM crisis fare so much better than those developing countries caught up in the Asian crisis of 1997-8?.
Central Banking Journal May 2001 edition now out
Central Banking Vol. XI, No. 4 was published 8 May 2001. This edition includes exclusive interviews with Maurice O'Connell, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Syahril Sabirin, Governor of Bank Indonesia and Hans Tietmeyer, former Bundesbank…
IMF Concludes Article IV with South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA - On 19 March 2001, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund concluded the Article IV consultation with South Africa.
US households more buoyant than generally believed
ARTICLE - The financial position of US households ranks high on the list of concerns about the economic and financial outlook. The fear is that a negative personal saving rate and record debt-to-income levels point to a potential sharp retrenchment in…
Gerashchenko gloomy on Russian banks
Interviewed in The Banker magazine (May 2001 edition) Viktor Gerashchenko, head of Russia's central bank painted a gloomy picture of the state of Russia's banking system.
Rate to be cut before inflation hits target
REPORT - A poll showed that the biggest group of economists still believes the ECB will cut its benchmark rate from 4.75 percent next month even though inflation is heading up, not down.
Making EMU Work: Some Lessons from the 1990s
ARTICLE - Jorg Bibow lectures at the University of Hamburg on central banking and European integration. This working paper investigates the lessons learned from Europe's convergence process of the 1990s.
Government and Innovation Policy in South Africa
ARTICLE - In this article Sunil Mani of the United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies analyses the South African Experience of Government and Innovation Policy since 1994.
Commission paper highlights euro challenges
A new publication by the European Commission surveys the first two years of the euro's existence and highlights some of the challenges ahead.
Cross-sector financial disclosure (update)
An international regulatory working group has released a set of guidelines to prompt all financial institutions to reveal more information about the risks they are running.
Optimal horizons for inflation targeting
ARTICLE - This paper investigates the problem of selecting an optimal horizon for inflation targeting in the United Kingdom. It was written by Nicoletta Batini and Edward Nelson of the Monetary Policy Committee Unit, Bank of England.
Overbidding problem in the ECB fixed rate auctions
ARTICLE - Dieter Nautz from Goethe University and Jorg Oechssler from Bonn University have written a paper "The repo auctions of the European Central Bank and the vanishing quota puzzle". The article examines the overbidding problem faced by the ECB in…
Central banks could own big chunk of US Tsys-UBSW
RESEARCH - Global central banks could own the entire supply of marketable U.S. debt by the end of 2006 as growing foreign exchange reserves force them to buy more ultra-safe U.S. government debt, according to a survey of central banks conducted by UBS…
Costs of forex intervention - evidence from Sweden
ARTICLE - Boo Sjoo and Richard Sweeney have published an article "The foreign-exchange costs of central bank intervention: evidence from Sweden" in the latest issue of Journal of International Money and Finance. The study supports the view that the…
What is wrong with Taylor Rules?
ARTICLE - Lars Svensson, professor of economics at Stockholm University, has published an article "What is Wrong with Taylor Rules? Using Judgment in Monetary Policy through Targeting Rules". In the paper, Svensson says that Taylor Rules are an…
Permanent accommodation for the HKMA
ARTICLE - Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in his weekly column on the HKMA website, says that the strong reaction from some politicians about the planned purchase, through the Exchange Fund, of a permanent office for the…
Inflation targeting and the liquidity trap
ARTICLE - Bennett McCallum from the National Bureau of Economic Research has published an article on "Inflation Targeting and the Liquidity Trap". The paper says that 'liquidity trap' issues do not have an important bearing on the desirability of…