Central Banking
Norway's Gjedrem appointed to second term
Norges Bank governor Svein Gjedrem was appointed to a second term on Friday 29 October. Press reports described the move as a vote of confidence for his management policies.
Albania votes in new central bank chief
Albania's parliament voted to confirm some changes to top executive posts on Thursday 28 October including the appointment of Ardian Fullani as the new central bank governor.
Interview with Central Bank of Cuba's Soberon
In an interview published this week, president Francisco Soberon of the Central Bank of Cuba said it would be extremely unwise for Cuba to change the one-to-one exchange rate to the dollar after the Cuban people have shown such confidence in the Cuban…
Bank of Israel promotes 20 percent of staff
A press report said this week that Bank of Israel governor David Klein has decided to promote 20 per cent of the central bank's staff, with salary increases of between 10 and 15 per cent. Haaretz said the move was made without consulting the workers…
RBI names Gopinath as key department head
Shyamala Gopinath, a deputy governor in the Reserve Bank of India, took charge of the key departments of monetary policy and internal debt management this week following Rakesh Mohan's move to Economic Affairs secretary in the government.
CBN may lose 2,000 staff
The Central Bank of Nigeria may lose up to 2,000 staff as part of a restructuring of the bank, press reports said this week. The majority of the affected employees work in four departments which are to be phased out as part of the plans, Vanguard said.
List of Greenspan successors shrinks
The re-election of President George Bush sharply narrows the field of candidates to succeed Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chief, this article says. Steven Cecchetti is quoted as saying Martin Feldstein is the unconditional best candidate.
Dallas Fed's McTeer says 'Goodbye and howdy'
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Bob McTeer resigned on Thursday 4 October to become chancellor at Texas A&M University, ending a 36-year career in the Federal Reserve system. In a statement posted on the Dallas Fed's website on Thursday titled …
Ukrainian election heads for runoff vote
The top two candidates to succeed Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma are heading for a run-off vote on 21 November, after neither won a majority in the first round. Former governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko is one of the candidates.
Tumpel-Gugerell on the euro's success & challenges
In a speech 'Six years after the euro: Success and challenges' given on 5 November, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of the ECB said excessive volatility in the foreign-exchange market is "not beneficial" and can be "painful" for exporters.
Bergstrom: Riksbank to blame for unemployment?
In a speech titled 'Is the Riksbank to blame for unemployment?' given on 4 November Villy Bergstrom of the Sveriges Riksbank said all factual criticism of the Riksbank's forecasts is good, but there's a risk of concentrating the debate on our interest…
Padoa-Schioppa on European financial institutions
In a speech 'How to deal with emerging pan-European financial institutions?' given on 3 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said the regulatory and supervisory framework that is now in place can meet the challenges. The condition, however, is…
The Mussa Theorem & IMF induced moral hazard
Using a simple model of international lending, this IMF Working Paper shows that as long as the IMF lends at an actuarially fair interest rate and debtor governments maximize the welfare of their taxpayers, any changes in policy effort, capital flows, or…
Cyprus and Russia sign money laundering accord
The Cypriot Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS) has signed a cooperation agreement with the corresponding unit from the Russian Federation on international cooperation against money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
NBU chief downbeat on common currency idea
The acting head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Arsen Yatsenyuk, said in an interview that there can be no question of introducing a common currency with Russia.
Taylor predicts smooth deficit adjustment in US
US Treasury Under secretary John Taylor has said he expects a smooth adjustment in the large US current account deficit. While some have bemoaned the increase in the deficit, Taylor said it was good news.
IMF's Rato calls on Bush to work on deficits
IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato was quoted as saying on Friday 5 November that newly re-elected US president George Bush should turn his attention to the country's budget and trade deficits as part of a global push to spur growth after winning re…
Italy's Fazio sees 2005 growth less than 2%
Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio told a conference he expects GDP in the third quarter to have risen 0.3 pct from the previous quarter, and forecast Italian growth of less than 2 pct for the whole of 2005.
RBA fights to preserve secrecy
The Australian newspaper is attempting to have released the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's meetings and voting records for 2003/04 released under Australia's Freedom of Information laws. But the nine-member board -- whose six external…
The roughest terrain in China's central banking
This article makes comparisons between China's first interest-rate increase since 1995 recently and the actions of Paul Volcker at the Federal Reserve back in October 1979. PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan needs to bring fresh thinking and unconventional…
Fed Reserve Bank of St Louis Review, Nov/Dec 2004
The latest edition of the St Louis Fed's Review for November-December 2004 includes the article "Monetary policy and asset prices: A look back at past U.S. stock market booms" which examines the economic environments in which past U.S. stock market booms…
IMF paper: new taxonomy of monetary regimes
This IMF Working Paper proposes a new taxonomy of monetary regimes defined by the choice and clarity of the nominal anchor. The regimes are: (i) monetary nonautonomy, (ii) weak anchor, (iii) money anchor, (iv) exchange rate peg, (v) full-fledged…
ECB paper on transmission of monetary policy
This ECB Working Paper examines possible explanations for observed differences in the transmission of euro area monetary policy in central bank large-scale macroeconomic models. It finds that, against most yardsticks, the cross-country variations in the…
ECB press conference with questions and answers
At the ECB's post-meeting press conference on Thursday 4 November, after eurozone interest rates were held unchanged, Jean-Claude Trichet gave a tougher warning about the immediate inflationary dangers ahead, calling a recent jump in consumer prices a …