Central Banking
Malawi’s reserves insufficient and volatile: Ligoya
Reserve Bank of Malawi’s Perks Ligoya says export diversification needed to generate stable foreign-exchange income
Joint fiscal stimulus does everyone good
Bank of Canada looks at the potential effect of the joint fiscal policy initiatives of the G20 in 2009 and 2010
Frank says Fed presidents shouldn’t vote on policy
Head of House Financial Services Committee labels heads of regional Federal Reserves “private citizens selected by other private citizens”
Reshape debt to prevent future crises: Bank’s Haldane
Bank of England director Andrew Haldane points to debt-equity swaps and contingent capital as means to avoid another debt crisis; says shareholder dividends should have been saved
Kansas’s Hoenig dissents at FOMC meeting
Kansas Fed president Thomas Hoenig votes against action to keep promise of extremely accommodative policy
Services inflation must fall: Bank’s Sentance
BoE rate-setter Andrew Sentance says spike in goods inflation is increasing pressure for services inflation to be controlled
NY Fed misrepresented French AIG position: Tarp overseer
Tarp overseer Neil Barofsky says Commission Bancaire would have helped secure haircuts from French counterparties of American International Group; comments contradict earlier claim by New York Fed
Labour shifts and productivity analysed
Bank of Canada paper finds that while overall labour reallocation has picked up, movement between jobs in the same industry, which causes increases in productivity, has declined
Geithner passes buck on AIG
Treasury Secretary says he did not make the decision to pay American International Group’s biggest counterparties 100 cents on the dollar
IIF sees sharp rise in emerging-market capital flows
Significant about-turn sees anticipated flows leap above 2008 figures; pick-up most marked in emerging Europe
IMF warns against Japanese complacency
International Monetary Fund report says Japan will face a harder task in convincing markets it can manage high debt levels in future
Turkey warns of risk from higher commodity prices
The Central Bank of Turkey flags dangers presented by rise in commodity prices
Obama’s proposals – the only game in town
President Obama’s radical proposals recognise that the financial lobby can no longer hold society to hostage. They should be welcomed as a result, Robert Pringle, the chairman of Central Banking Publications, writes.
Iceland cuts by 50 bp as króna stands ground
Unexpected reduction leaves borrowing costs at 9.5%, central bank notes Icesave debacle failed to impact króna
Denmark names professor new economics head
University of Copenhagen’s Peter Birch Sørensen to move to the National Bank of Denmark in April
Keep the Fed away from politics: Dallas’s Fisher
Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher says allowing Congress to audit the Fed would be comparable to the governance crises of Weimar Germany and pre-Péron Argentina
Bank of Canada – Business Outlook Survey (winter 09/10)
Canadian firms expected both their costs and the prices they charged to increase over this year, signalling an end to the slump in demand
IMF more upbeat on growth
Global economy now set to expand by 3.9% this year, according to World Economic Outlook Update
BoJ more optimistic on growth, deflation
Bank of Japan lifts economic projections in sign it sees policy as sufficient
Ex-governors and prominent academics in new forum
Former Argentine central bank governor Mario Blejer, former Bundesbank president Ernst Welteke and a slew of prominent academics will participate in a new forum
SARB split over rate hold
Majority opt to hold rates at 7%, governor discusses inflation-targeting review
S&P places Japan on negative watch
Rating agency argues fiscal leverage has diminished; decision comes after central bank opts not to extend quantitative easing
Schapiro seeks tighter reins on hedge-funds
US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Mary Schapiro eyes more stringent controls for hedge funds and credit rating agencies
Big fiscal spending hurts post-crisis recovery: IMF
International Monetary Fund looks at whether there is a trade-off between committing large fiscal resources and a quick recovery