Central Banking
New York Fed's Foreign Exchange Operations Report
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations quarterly report for January-March 2006, published 4 May, the U.S. monetary authorities did not intervene in the foreign exchange markets during…
Chairman Bernanke's clarity issue
According to this article published Thursday 4 May, while Ben Bernanke is unlikely to make radical changes in the statement issued after the next FOMC meeting, Fed watchers say he could aid his cause by eventually disclosing the central bank's forecasts…
RBA Statement on Monetary Policy, May 2006
The Reserve Bank of Australia published its May 2006 Statement on Monetary Policy on 5 May. The Australian economy is continuing to benefit from favourable international conditions, according to the report.
German pay policy points to a eurozone design flaw
According to this article by Paul de Grauwe, published Friday 5 May, in spite of the fact that the eurozone is a union of countries which set their monetary policy jointly, wage policies have been characterised by a blatant co-ordination failure.
Trichet 'not satisfied' with inflation over 2%
Speaking at the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Friday 5 May, Jean-Claude Trichet said the European Central Bank is 'not satisfied' with inflation above 2 pct in the euro zone.
SNB's Blattner says rates will rise 'gradually'
Swiss National Bank vice-president Niklaus Blattner said on Friday 5 May that Swiss interest rates would continue to rise "gradually" to ensure longer term price stability.
Comment: Unravelling the RBA hike
The Reserve Bank of Australia has joined the world's leading central banks in tightening mode. Last week's rate rise was largely unexpected and opinion is split over how far the central bank will go in hiking rates this year.
Issing to leave ECB but monetarism lives on
Otmar Issing's legacy is set to continue, despite his retirement from the European Central Bank at the end of the month, according to this article published Friday 5 May.
An Asian monetary union?
This Working Paper from The Australian National University, published April 2006, empirically examines whether a group of 12 Asian countries is suitable to form an Asian Monetary Union (AMU).
Paper on political authorities and central banks
The Working Paper "Do interactions between political authorities and central banks influence FX interventions? Evidence from Japan" published April 2006 proposes a model that takes account explicitly of differences in exchange rate objective between…
Stratthaus rejects Buba board membership
Gerhard Stratthaus, finance minister of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, has declined to join the Bundesbank's board, according to the Financial Times Deutschland.
Bulgarian National Bank - Annual Report 2004
According to the Bulgarian National Bank's Annual Report 2004, economic growth in Bulgaria accelerated to 5.6 per cent in 2004.
Europe must relax inflation test for euro entrants
According to this article by Willem Buiter, published Thursday 4 May, forcing eurozone membership candidate countries to meet both an exchange rate criterion and an inflation criterion makes no economic sense.
Why India badly needs a new financial regulator
With two of its stock markets now among the world's five most active, India badly needs a modern financial regulator, according to this article published Thursday 4 May.
Is the IMF still useful?
IMF reform has been on the policy agenda for a long time. In the last year, however, reform discussions acquired a new sense of urgency, this article by Barry Eichengreen published Thursday 4 May says.
China needs more Volcker and less Greenspan
According to this article published Monday 1 May, China's recent increase in interest rates may have the opposite effect to what was intended. The move may boost the economy, instead of slowing it, it says.
Fed's Bies on current bank capital and market risk
In the speech 'Supervisory perspective on current bank capital, market risk, and loan product issues' given on 4 May Susan Schmidt Bies of the Federal Reserve said top bank managers must be involved to make sure their institutions' exposure to risks is…
Comment: Trichet sounds his warning
After having made it clear that an interest rate increase was highly unlikely, the ECB's monetary policy meeting this week was all about how to signal future rate hikes pencilled in for later this year. Jean-Claude Trichet's message yesterday, 3 May, was…
Information & interest rate-setting central banks
The Working Paper "How much information should interest rate-setting central banks reveal?" extends Morris and Shin's model to the case where the central bank must anyway convey some information by setting the interest rate.
ECB signals June rate rise
At the ECB's post-meeting press conference, after holding eurozone interest rates unchanged, on Thursday 4 May Jean-Claude Trichet said the Governing Council will exercise strong vigilance in order to ensure that risks to price stability over the medium…
ECB's Gonzalez-Paramo on financial statistics
In the speech 'Financial statistics for a global economy' given on 4 May Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo of the ECB said the global statistical governance for official financial statistics will be guided by the fundamental principles of official statistics…
ADB says growth depends on oil price fall
The Asian Development Bank has said the rapid growth of the region's economies may only be sustained if there is a decline in global oil prices.
Vietnam to issue VND20,000 polymer notes
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will issue VND20,000 polymer notes into circulation from May 17.
ECB warns on Sepa timetable
The European Central Bank has issued a raft of amendments to a draft Directive on harmonising payment services in the EU, and warned that any delays in adoption of the rules could wreck the proposed timetable for the introduction of a Single Euro…