Central Banking
"Properly manage" baht says Thai finance minister
Thailand's finance minister directed the central bank to "properly manage" the baht, as the currency hit a ten-year high against the dollar.
BoE's Blanchflower on self-employment
In a speech delivered in Berlin, David Blanchflower said, "in comparison with employees the self-employed are more likely to be male; immigrants; work in construction or financial activities; hold an apprenticeship; work in London; work long hours; have…
Tromp on Caribbean marketplace
In a speech on "the Caribbean marketplace," Dr ED Tromp, president of the Bank of the Netherlands Antilles discussed the need for further Caribbean cooperation and integration and said, "The high vulnerability of our economies... is primarily the result…
Japan: regional economic report
The Bank of Japan published a regional economic report on 6 July.
OeNB - Annual Report 2006
Operating profit at Austria's central bank for the year was €193m, down on last year's €295m, as the OeNB added nearly €100m to its pension reserve.
New French candidate for IMF emerges
A former finance minister of France, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has emerged as one of the early favourites to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The current managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, announced last month that he would…
New non-executive directors for Bank of England
Roger Carr and Susan Rice have been appointed as non-executive directors of the Bank of England, replacing Sir Graham Hall and Mary Francis.
French honour for Maltese central bank governor
Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, Michael Bonello, has been awarded the Officier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French government.
China's Wu Xiaoling cool on asset prices
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, will not use monetary policy directly to target stock market or real estate prices, deputy governor, Wu Xiaoling, said on 7 July.
Pension overhaul at the Bank of England
The Bank of England has traditionally had a generous final salary pension scheme, but it is now reported that it intends to close the scheme and raise the retirement age of new staff from 60 to 65.
South African reserves approach $26 billion
The South African Reserve Bank has announced that net gold and foreign exchange reserves rose last month to $25.94bn from $28.28bn at the end of May. The central bank said gross reserves were up at $28.28bn from $27.85bn the previous month, and net…
Peru's interest rates at six-year high
The Central Bank of Peru unexpectedly raised its reference rate to 4.75% from 4.5% on 5 July, as strong economic growth, boosted by domestic demand and metal exports, threatened rising inflation. The central bank said that the move was "preventative",…
Deputy chief of Korean watchdog cleared
Kim Jung-Hoe, a deputy chief of South Korea's financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Service, has been cleared by a court of receiving bribes from a businessman.
Balkan central banks agree on regulation framework
The central banks of six Balkan countries and Cyprus on Friday have agreed on a framework of regional cooperation to improve banking supervision, streamline operations and help fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Central banker to head Agricultural Bank
The deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, Xiang Junbo, has been appointed president of the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China, to deal with the bank's $99bn in bad debt and take it public.
Madigan appointed as key aide to Bernanke
The Federal Reserve Board yesterday named Brian F. Madigan as the chief adviser on interest rates to its chairman, Ben Bernanke.Madigan will take over as director of the division of monetary affairs on 23 July.
IMF paper on public debt markets
This IMF paper reviews the state of domestic public debt markets in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
ECB on structural reforms
The European Central Bank (ECB) has published, on 6 July, a report on "Structural Reforms in EMU and the Role of Monetary Policy: a Survey of the Literature."
Explaining interest rate differentials
In this NBER working paper, Marvin Goodfriend and Bennett T. McCallum, suggest that a central bank that fails to recognise the distinction between inter-bank and other short rates could miss its appropriate settings by as much as 4% per year.
Italy's Draghi on financial innovations
In a speech on 4 June Mario Draghi, governor of the Banca D'Italia, reviewed some of the most important financial innovations seen in recent years, and the consequences they have had for financial markets and institutions.
New Mexican deputy governor confirmed
Roberto del Cuerto has been approved by the Mexican congress to become one of the central bank's four deputy governors. He will fill a position on the bank's monetary policy board which has been vacant for some months.
Bank of Thailand intervenes to weaken baht
The Bank of Thailand, the country's central bank, announced on 5 June that it has intervened in the currency market in an attempt to slow down the rise of the baht, the national currency.
Bank Indonesia cuts benchmark interest rate
Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, has cut its benchmark interest rate by a further 25 basis points to 8.25%, the governor Burhanuddin Abdullah announced on 5 July.
Bank of England raises bank rate by 0.25%
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England voted on 5 July to raise the official bank rate by 0.25% to 5.75%. The previous change in bank rate was an increase of 0.25% to 5.5% on May 10 this year.