International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Emerging evidence can guide design of macro-prudential policies, say BIS, IMF and FSB
International institutions present review of evidence on macro-prudential policies; no consensus but some patterns are emerging
Mozambique replaces governor Gove with IMF official
Ernesto Gove leaves central bank after a decade in the role; new governor to leave role as head of IMF mission to Djibouti and Somalia
IMF praises Argentina’s new statistical rigour
Fund pleased with progress made reforming statistics but there is still work to be done; IMF willing to provide “technical assistance”
Ukrainian central bank complains of failure to prosecute banking offences
Deputy governor criticises failure to bring “high-profile” court cases against suspected financial criminals; IMF has yet to announce whether it will disburse next tranche of aid
King calls for IMF revamp
Former BoE governor suggests replacing IMF’s executive board with International Monetary and Financial Committee; notes fund may have strayed too far into political territory
Book notes: Priests of prosperity: how central bankers transformed the postcommunist world
Juliet Johnson has produced an interesting account of how central banks in former communist regimes were developed at a time when they had little or no experience of modern financial systems
Frontier markets need framework to strengthen capital flow resilience – IMF paper
Frontier markets are affected by capital flows in similar ways to emerging markets, the paper argues, suggesting a change in the “landscape” of capital flows could have policy implications
Mervyn King on Brexit, crisis supervision, economic rebalancing and reforming the IMF
The former Bank of England governor discusses Brexit, radical regulatory reform, the difficulties rebalancing the European and global economies and an overhaul of the International Monetary Fund
IMF working paper encourages Italian banks to clean up balance sheets
Italian banks are likely to become more profitable as economy recovers, authors say, though their capacity to lend is linked to capital buffers
Belarus central bank reports ‘significant’ credit risk to country’s banking sector
A large proportion of Belarusian banks’ risky debts are owed as a result of financing government, central bank says; report echoes IMF call for major reforms to state-owned enterprises
PBoC gives World Bank green light as China’s first SDR bond issuer
World Bank to issue China’s first bond denominated in special drawing rights, in “landmark” step towards opening up Chinese bond market
Chinese authorities should introduce inflation target – IMF staff
Report by IMF staff sets out ‘key elements’ of transition to more market-based monetary framework; encourages explicit inflation goal and new intermediate target for policy
Bundesbank paper models ‘information contagion’
A Deutsche Bundesbank working paper presents a model of how “information contagion” can cause bank runs and attempts to quantify it using data on Canada’s banking sector
IMF paper explores link between imports and pro-cyclicality of productivity
Research finds firm-level import decisions explain “non-trivial” fraction of fluctuations in aggregate productivity in South Korean manufacturing sector between 2006 and 2012
IMF’s response to self-evaluation report ‘very positive’
Engagement with evaluation "very positive", says IEO official, after it offered broad support to recommendations, with some qualifications
Proposal for calculating capital requirements for concentration risk
Working paper warns “inadequate reflection” on concentration risk can lead to banks holding too little capital; proposes technique for calculating appropriate levels
IMF urges Abenomics ‘reload’ as BoJ struggles
Fund tells Japanese authorities to be clearer and more systematic in setting policy, as government unveils new stimulus; working paper suggests alternative to helicopter money
Parliament keeps door open to monetary financing in Ghana
Parliament approves bill that removes government representative from central bank board, but government would still be able to borrow from central bank to finance deficit; IMF to discuss implications
Governments must make use of fiscal policies with regard to gender inequality – IMF paper
‘Not enough’ to just aspire for gender equality; clear scope for countries in Middle East and central Asia to make ‘more effective’ use of policies available to them
IMF’s crisis performance criticised by internal review
Report evaluates IMF’s handling of eurozone crises from 2010 to 2013; work during programme design and implementation described as ‘uneven’ and concerns raised over political pressure
Viñals leaves IMF to chair Standard Chartered
Lagarde praises Viñals for “sharp intellect” and “analytical rigour” during seven years of service at the fund; he will join Standard Chartered Bank as chairman of the board
IMF paper examines impact of debt restructurings on growth
Growth usually declines after debt restructurings, but it can boost performance if the country exits a default spell, the authors find
IMF changes method for calculating SDR currency amounts
IMF will switch to new SDR basket in October, including renminbi for the first time; calculation will use new rounding methodology aimed at minimising deviation from weightings
Exposure to sovereign risk may limit banks’ ability to attract deposits – IMF paper
Research shows non-linear relationship between exposure to sovereign risk and deposit outflows; exposure negatively affected growth of consumer deposits 2006-2011