The Americas
Enterprise-wide risk management widespread among central banks
Few institutions maintain use of department-level and damage limitation approaches
Fed paper presents new way to measure consumer welfare
Consumer preferences change in line with incomes, researcher argues
Most central banks lack climate risk units
Just under half of institutions say they have difficulty hiring staff with matching skills
Cyber and fintech risk policies rejigged in a few central banks
Departmental structure varies across jurisdictions
Central banks should co-ordinate policy – Minneapolis Fed paper
Policy-makers should consider decisions’ effects on world real rate, authors say
Extreme temperature harms household finances, warns paper
Payday loan delinquency and defaults increase during extreme weather
Minority of central banks altered risk functions in past two years
Amendments emanate from factors including technology and climate change
Communicating uncertainty helps curb expectations – BoC paper
But conveying uncertainty about inflation weakens link between inflation and spending plans
Few central banks lack risk management strategies
Two respondents do not have a risk strategy and slightly more lack a defined risk tolerance
GRC systems remain scarce among central banks
Minority of central banks project adoption this year, others aim to upgrade
Alberto Musalem becomes St Louis Fed president
Musalem will start on April 2 and be a voting member of FOMC in 2025
Most heads of risk management units report to governor or board
Risk management committees are more likely to exist in central banks than chief risk officers
Risk management units are most often centralised
Operational risks are the most covered area across participating jurisdictions
Fed research looks at second-round effects of oil price inflation
Late 2022 oil price rally could cause inflationary pressure as late as mid-2025, paper finds
Milei confirms Santiago Bausili as BCRA pick
Appeals court recently dismissed conflict–of-interest charges against governor-designate
Administrative data tops list as alternative data source
Research and forecasting remain key areas of application for central bank economists
Economists’ rate of access to centralised data services still below par
Central banks in high-income jurisdictions still have more access
Most heads of research are responsible for sign-off on research
Peer-reviewed papers remain most-used metric for measuring research success
Central banks average 11 working papers over the past year
Just over a quarter of central banks run research blogs
Central banks prioritise inflation dynamics research
Middle income institutions tend to have much widest research interests
Heatwave cost Texas 1% of GDP in 2023, says Dallas Fed research
Higher temperatures have significant effects on productivity, but less on jobs, paper finds
Time series model is top tool for forecasting and research
Use of machine learning models for research purposes surges year on year
Argentina’s Milei struggles to find central bank governor
Two candidates refuse position amid uncertainty over dollarisation plans
Economic growth and inflation are most-forecast variables
Private debt, commodity prices and market interest rates rank as laggards