Central Banking
IMF strengthens technical assistance programme
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced a raft of reforms aimed at enhancing its technical assistance.
Russia launches fresh bid to tackle inflation
The Central Bank of Russia said on Friday that it would raise its reserve requirement ratios for the fourth time this year to curb annual inflation, which is estimated at about 15%.
Czech executive director quits
Leos Ptr, the executive director responsible for financial market supervision at the Czech National Bank, resigned Thursday.
BoE's Tucker on assessing price impact of slowdown
A key challenge for the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will be to assess whether the expected economic slowdown will be sufficient to bring inflation back to target, said Paul Tucker, the Bank's executive director responsible for markets.
Strong euro less harmful for developing trade
The euro's strength has a weaker effect on the competitiveness of euro-area exports when the destination is a developing country, finds new research from the European Central Bank.
Stock prices count in bank lending
Stock markets play a key role in the lending decisions of European banks, finds a new paper from Banque de France.
Joint Forum: reduce dependence on external CRs
Investors should never exclusively rely on external ratings when evaluating credit risk transfer instruments, says the Joint Forum, a group of senior financial regulators, in a paper on this sector.
Fed's Warsh: we would take covered bonds
Highly rated, high-quality covered bonds would generally fall within the range of collateral acceptable at the Federal Reserve's discount window, said Kevin Warsh, a governor at the Federal Reserve Board.
Asian inflation may spark investor flight
If inflation continue to rise, a deterioration of investor sentiment about emerging-markets economies cannot be ruled out, said the Exchange Fund advisory committee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority according to minutes of its June meeting.
Advanced and emerging markets diverging
In the period of globalisation from 1985 to 2005 there has been convergence of business cycles within industrial economies and within the emerging-markets, but a decoupling between them, finds a new paper from the International Monetary Fund.
Mexican growth suffers as remittances slide
The Bank of Mexico has cut its growth estimate for this year on evidence that remittance payments from US-based migrant workers are falling.
Bank of Albania - Annual Report 2007
Albania's economy grew by 6% in 2007, supported by high foreign direct investment, reveals the Bank of Albania's latest annual report.
Eurozone inflation hits fresh record
Annual inflation in the eurozone looks to have hit a record high of 4.1% in July.
Fed a "major culprit" in commodity inflation
A prominent US economist has blamed Federal Reserve policy for the surge in commodity prices.
UK MPC hawk acting on 70s memories
Tim Besley, the only member of the Bank of England's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee to back a rate hike this month, voted against the majority on fears that UK inflation could become as volatile as it was in the 1970s.
Philly Fed payments VP wins promotion
Arun Jain, a vice president at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's retail payments department, will become a senior vice president after nearly 30 years of working within the Fed system.
NZ's Bollard praises inflation targeting
There are no clearly superior alternatives to the flexible inflation targeting approach for maintaining price stability, said Alan Bollard, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Wage stagnation key source of poverty
Policies to address wages for workers at the lower end of the pay scale should be at the core of anti-poverty efforts in New York City, finds a new paper from the New York Federal Reserve.
Asian inflation to stay high
Inflation in Asian countries will remain high over the medium term due to rising oil prices and a persistent shortage of skilled labour, says new research from Deutsche Bank.
Korean growth slows
Korea's economy slowed in June as the pace of CPI inflation picked up. The increase in the CPI was mainly due to high oil prices, said the Bank of Korea in its second quarterly bulletin for 2008.
Fed pledges to extend aid measures into 2009
The Federal Reserve moved to soothe financial market tensions on Wednesday with a fresh batch of liquidity measures, including confirmation that it will allow investment banks to borrow from its discount window into next year.
Zimbabwe lops ten zeros off currency
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced plans to remove ten zeros from its currency in a fresh bid to fight hyperinflation.
Bangkok names new central bank board
The Thai government has appointed a new central bank board.
Obama talks crunch and regulation with Bernanke
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has discussed the credit crisis and proposals for more stringent financial regulation with Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for the US president.