Research
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Winter 2002
REPORT - The Bank of England released its Quarterly Bulletin, Winter 2002, on 16 December. In the report the Bank warned that increased debt levels among British consumers could lead to a problem if the economy turns sharply weaker. "Overall, changes in…
Bank of England Financial Stability Review, Dec 02
REPORT - The Bank of England published its Financial Stability Review for December 2002, Issue 13, on 12 December. It contains the Bank's regular half-yearly assessment of risks to financial stability, together with a number of articles including " The…
ECB Monthly Bulletin, December 2002
REPORT - The European Central Bank published its December 2002 Monthly Bulletin on 12 December. In the report the ECB says the decision of its Governing Council to reduce interest rates last week reflected their assessment that the evidence has increased…
Central Banker, Winter 2002
REPORT - The Winter 2002 edition of the St. Louis Fed's Central Banker magazine has been published. This edition includes articles on the new senior vice president in the Banking Supervision and Regulation Division at the St Louis Fed, Julie Stackhouse…
Concluding Statement of the IMF Mission to Norway
REPORT - Each year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assesses the Norwegian economy. During the last few days, a delegation from the IMF has visited Norway to gather information about the economic and financial situation and to discuss economic…
BIS Quarterly Review December 2002
REPORT - BIS Quarterly Review, International Banking and Financial Market Developments, December 2002. In the report the BIS said that confidence began to return to markets at the end of October after six months of mounting pessimism. But the report also…
Sveriges Riksbank Inflation Report, No.4, 2002
RESEARCH - Sweden's central bank has published its Inflation Report for the Fourth Quarter 2002. In the report the Riksbank said inflation has fallen back since the spring, which supports their earlier assessment, and that inflation expectations are also…
Monitoring the European Central Bank - Update
RESEARCH - Surviving the Slowdown, Monitoring the European Central Bank Update No. 4, December 2002, authors include David Begg and Paul De Grauwe. MECB 4 describes the challenge for monetary policy and assesses the ECB response. Interest rates fell much…
Economic Perspectives, Fourth Quarter 2002
REPORT - The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published its regular quarterly journal of in-depth articles reporting on the Bank's economic research for the Fourth Quarter 2002. This edition includes an article 'Sorting out Japan's financial crisis'.
HKMA Quarterly Bulletin, November 2002
REPORT - The Hong Kong Monetary Fund has published its Quarterly Bulletin for November 2002. The issue includes feature articles on 'The impact of China's accession to the World Trade Organisation on Asia', 'Preserving monetary stability in the face of…
Practical Issues Arising from the Euro
REPORT - The Bank of England has published the latest in its twice yearly series 'Practical Issues Arising from the Euro' for November 2002. Part 1 reports on the UK's performance as a euro financial centre since the launch of the euro at the beginning…
Review of the international role of the euro
REPORT - The European Central Bank published its annual review of the international role of the euro on 2 December. The main findings are that the euro is the second most widely used currency internationally and its role is still growing, albeit…
Central banking in emerging economies
BOOK - Dr A. Vasudevan's book on Central Banking in Emerging Economies gives insights into the operation of central banking, which are useful for the analysis of economic policy. The review calls the book a useful addition to the library of any economist…
Norges Bank Financial Stability Report No.2, 2002
REPORT - The Central Bank of Norway, Norges Bank, published its twice yearly Financial Stability Report 2/2002 on 28 November. Central Bank Governor Svein Gjedrem, said when Norges Bank presented the report that the outlook for financial stability in…
Federal Reserve Board - Beige Book, November 2002
REPORT - The Federal Reserve Beige Book released 27 November said that the US economy's growth in late October and November, was slow, with business conditions across all districts soft and sluggish excluding housing. Capital spending was limited,…
Rebuilding Transmission System for Monetary Policy
RESEARCH - The trouble with Alan Greenspan's handling of the economy, the Financial Markets Center suggests, goes much deeper than an ill-timed interest-rate adjustment or inaccurate staff forecast. It's embedded in the Fed's increasingly antiquated…
RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement
REPORT - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has published its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for November 2002. The RBNZ said in the report that unlike most trading partners, the New Zealand economy performed well in 2002. Activity has continued to benefit…
Six Months of the New Brazilian RTGS
REPORT - The Bank of Brazil has published a report six months after the introduction of the new Brazilian Payments System. The real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system is the ninth largest RTGS system in the world in terms of payments relative to GDP…
Survey of Professional Forecasters
SURVEY - The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published its Survey of Professional Forecasters for the Fourth Quarter 2002. The survey forecasts inflation will average 1.1 percent this year and 1.7 percent in 2003. These estimates are down just 0…
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey
REPORT - Activity in the region's manufacturing sector has improved modestly, according to firms surveyed for the November 2002 Business Outlook Survey. Indexes for general activity, new orders, and shipments improved from their negative readings in the…
Chicago Fed National Activity Index October 2002
REPORT - CFNAI Shows Economic Growth Slowed Further in October - In October, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) remained below zero for a third month, coming in at -0.81 The three-month moving average index, CFNAI-MA3, moved down to -0.55.
Bank of Japan Monthly Report, November 2002
REPORT - The Bank of Japan published its Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments, November 2002, on 21 November. In the report the Bank downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in a year, citing stagnant export-led…
Reserve Management in an Era of Low Returns
RESEARCH - Although central banks have traditionally conducted their reserves management in a conservative and risk-averse way, the very low interest rates we see now have caused central banks, like other fixed income investors, to search for higher…
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Meeting released on 20 November for the meeting of 6 and 7 November 2002. The nine MPC members voted on a proposal to maintain the repo rate at 4.0%. Seven voted in favour of this with…