Central Banking
Eurosystem continues to shed staff
The number of central bankers in the 16 national central banks that now make up the Eurosystem stands at 46,123, a fall of 17.9% since 2003, reveals the 2009 edition of Central Banking Publications' Central Bank Directory.
Crisis calls for revision of LOLR role: economists
Central banks must broaden their remit as lenders of last resort in the wake of the crisis, two economists who advise central banks have said.
Poland slashes on signs of sharp slowdown
The National Bank of Poland made its steepest cut since January 2001 on Tuesday and cautioned that the country's economy was set for a sharper-than-expected slowdown.
China bids to breathe life into ailing economy
The People's Bank of China has cut its key lending and borrowing rates for the fifth time in three months in its quest to shore up faltering growth in the world's fourth largest economy. However, the move met with disappointment from market participants,…
Bubbles becoming ever-more frequent: BoJ head
Masaaki Shirakawa, the governor of the Bank of Japan, has noted that asset-price bubbles are becoming more and more frequent.
Some lessons on liquidity
The price a bank pays for liquidity depends upon the liquidity positions of its rivals as well as its own, research from the Bundesbank finds.
We need greater global cooperation: Thai governor
Tarisa Watanagase, the governor of the Bank of Thailand, has warned that combating the credit crisis necessitates a greater degree of international cooperation.
National Bank of Rwanda - Annual Report 2007
The state of Rwanda's public finances worsened in 2007, the central bank's latest Annual Report states.
Gieve: we need new instruments
Sir John Gieve, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, has admitted that the Bank underestimated the scale of the credit crisis and said the turmoil has demonstrated the need to equip central banks with new policy tools.
Fed further opens lending window
The Federal Reserve has announced a new lending facility that will allow an even wider range of institutions - including hedge funds - to access loans by the central bank.
Japan steps harder on fiscal pedal
The Japanese cabinet has approved an additional $54 billion fiscal spending package to try to ease the deepening recession in the world's second largest economy.
Political turmoil in Ukraine over CB loan
Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's prime minister, has called for the resignation of Viktor Yushchenko, the president and former head of the country's central bank, after accusing him of profiting from bets against the currency last week as the country…
Strauss-Kahn stresses need for fiscal spending
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has again called on governments to increase their spending programmes in 2009.
Import prices and inflation - BoE working paper
A new paper from the Bank of England analyses the influence of import prices on inflation in the United Kingdom, United States and Japan since the mid-1980s.
San Fran's Yellen on lessons from Japan
"Clear and strong commitments about the future stance of policy" are important when policy rates approach zero and there is fear of deflation, noted Janet Yellen in an Economic Letter reflecting on lessons from Japan's lost decade.
Stress testing in central banks - a comparison
A new paper from the Bank of Italy reviews the quantitative methods used at selected central banks to stress testing credit risk.
ECB on originate and distribute
A new paper from the European Central Bank looks at the incentive structure of the originate and distribute model and suggest policies that could be used to mitigate conflicts of interest surrounding the model.
India's Subbarao: fundamentals strong
The fundamentals of the Indian economy continue to be strong, said Duvvuri Subbarao, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Bank of Canada - Financial System Review Dec '08
The latest Financial System Review from the Bank of Canada focuses on five key sources of risk to the strength and stability of the Canadian financial system.
Assets are better kept with SWFs
Countries with a large foreign asset base tend to establish sovereign wealth funds as central banks' portfolio diversification tends is limited, says a new paper from the San Francisco Federal Reserve.
How high is inflation? Depends how you ask
Seemingly small differences in how inflation is referred to in a survey can lead respondents to consider significantly different price concepts, says a paper from the New York Federal Reserve.
Paulson wants more cash as Tarp bails out Detroit
Hank Paulson, the US treasury secretary, has called for Congress to hand over the remainder of the $700 billion in taxpayer funds allocated to the Troubled Asset Relief Plan (Tarp). Paulson's pleas followed news that George W. Bush, the US president,…
Pound could sink to par with euro "within weeks"
The pound will reach parity against the euro on the back of a stream of poor news on the macro front and expectations on interest rates, market participants say.
Japan acts to ease lending strains, cuts to 0.1%
The Bank of Japan has shaved two-tenths of a percentage points off its key rate and introduced a raft of measures aimed at easing financing tensions in the run-up to the year-end, including outright purchases of commercial paper.