International Monetary Fund (IMF)
RBA’s Lowe latest to dismiss inflation target hikes
Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Philip Lowe says IMF paper’s suggestion of raising inflation targets not sensible, says higher targets would damage supply side
IMF highlights risks of FX swaps
IMF paper finds that the use of foreign exchange (FX) swaps for funding and hedging purposes is not as infallible as previously thought, especially in periods of market stress
Fund economist: Lost Decade shows need for higher inflation targets
IMF economist Daniel Leigh points to evidence from Japan’s Lost Decade that shows hiking targets would have shorn output losses
DSK on Africa’s economic transformation
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn describes the Road Ahead for Africa at the Kenya International Conference Centre in Nairobi
Brussels and Paris push for European monetary fund
Finance ministries of France and Germany begin devising proposals for Europe’s own Fund, body would be geared at removing bailout security net as well as providing help to euro countries
Volcker lambasts higher inflation targets
Former Fed chairman Paul Volcker calls the suggestion that inflation targets should be raised to about 4% “nonsense”; points to the difficulties of the 1980s
IMF deputy on drivers of the Asian recovery
International Monetary Fund first deputy managing director Murillo Portugal says Australia has done well as a result of Chinese commodity demand, but must watch out for a cooling off
Stimulus is not the bulk of debt: Fund’s Lipsky
International Money Fund first deputy John Lipsky says underlying increases in spending and lower taxes from financial sector underpin the debt burden, rather than stimulus
Merge G20 and IMF: Norway’s Gjedrem
Norges Bank governor Svein Gjedrem calls for the two bodies to be combined, and underpinned by principles that mean all countries, irrespective of size, have their voices heard
The simulation of inflation forecasting
IMF research asks how useful is a simple Phillips Curve in simulating inflation forecasting in real time in Germany, the UK, and the US?
Last survivor of Bretton Woods dies
IMF managing director calls Jacques Polak an “iconic figure”
IMF should have come to emerging markets’ rescue: DSK
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn says it should have been the Fund, not the Fed and other central banks, which provided swap lines to emerging markets in the crisis
Shogo Ishii to head IMF’s Asia office
Current head Akira Ariyoshi to take up academic post in Hitotsubashi University
Emerging markets need a voice: Krueger
Ex-IMF first deputy managing director Anne Krueger writes that countries such as India and China must have a presence of the international stage reflecting their weight in the global economy
PBoC deputy named IMF special adviser
Zhu Min to join the International Monetary Fund in late spring
Focus on fundamentals outperforms carry trades: IMF paper
International Monetary Fund paper finds that an investment strategy determined by analysis of the real effective exchange rate ultimately does better than one that relies on borrowing cheap and lending at higher rates
Fiscal cuts must precede monetary tightening: IMF
International Monetary Fund notes fiscal consolidation is by far the biggest concern; suggests central banks maintain large balance sheets for time being
Monetary-policy transmission in Mauritius
Paper examines mechanism over the past decade
IMF to sell gold in the market
Fund’s move comes after offer of sale to central banks
Crises dampen productivity: IMF paper
Rising costs negatively impact factor productivity and have implications for both monetary and fiscal policy, International Monetary Fund research finds
“We failed the system”: Carney at RBI panel
Governors including Canada’s Mark Carney and India’s Duvvuri Subbarao point to imbalances as root cause of the crisis, but skirt around concerns over the dollar
Inflation targets must be raised: IMF’s Blanchard
IMF economists Olivier Blanchard, Giovanni Dell’Ariccia and Paulo Mauro call for central banks to revise their price growth targets if they want to avoid crippling deflation
Middle East and North Africa’s trade below potential
International Monetary Fund looks at trade constraints in the region