Central Banking
Federal Reserve Board - Beige Book, July 2004
The Federal Reserve released its July 2004 Beige Book survey on 28 July. The report said the US economic expansion is showing some signs of moderating as consumer spending brakes.
Central Bank of China - Annual Report 2003
The Central Bank of China has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2003. Taiwan's economic performance experienced a slowdown in the first half of 2003, the report says, as concerns about the US-Iraq War and the outbreak of SARS in East Asia…
BoE wins appeal on limiting legal privilege
The Bank of England won an appeal on Thursday 29 July against rulings that restrict the confidentiality of a lawyer's contact with clients. The British government and Law Society had supported its claim that the Court of Appeal erred in its rulings on…
IMF criticised in report on Argentina
The IMF has been urged to have clear "stop loss" rules when deciding if its support for a country's policies was working or if a more fundamental change was needed.
Sri Lanka's fin min denies signing banknotes
Sri Lanka's central bank has been forced to hold back huge quantities of new banknotes because Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama publicly denied signing them, an official said on Thursday 29 July.
Common West African central bank by July 2005
A common central bank for the five West African countries, Nigeria, Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia will have begun operations by July 2005, this article says. To be officially known as the West Africa Central Bank (WACB) the policy-guiding…
SAMA awards ATM contract
CyberGuard Corporation, a technology leader in network security, announced Thursday that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has selected CyberGuard's premium firewall/VPN appliances to provide the information security for a new ATM network.
New Zealand's OCR increased to 6 per cent
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand increased the Official Cash Rate from 5.75 per cent to 6.00 per cent on 29 July.
Tucker on managing the central bank balance sheet
In the speech 'Managing the central bank's balance sheet: Where monetary policy meets financial stability' given on 28 July Paul Tucker of the Bank of England said sets out the analysis underlying the Bank's announcement on 22 July of major reforms of…
RBA's Battellino, some comments on securitisation
In a speech 'Some comments on securitisation' given on 28 July Ric Battellino of the Reserve Bank of Australia said there is no doubt that an efficient and dynamic financial sector contributes importantly to the growth and development of the economy, but…
Bank of Finland - Annual Report 2003
The Bank of Finland has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2003. Over the year, financial stability in Finland improved due to the continuing strong returns shown by the country's financial institutions. Overall, the financial market…
Central Bank of Iceland - Annual Report 2003
The Central Bank of Iceland has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2003. At the same time as national expenditure rebounded quite strongly from the low in 2001 and 2002, exports stagnated. Despite a strong recovery of private consumption and…
Italy's Fazio on the prospects for the economy
In the speech 'The banking industry and the prospects for the economy' given on 8 July Antonio Fazio of the Bank of Italy said in the last three years the containment of the budget deficit has been entrusted mainly to one-off measures, which are useful…
SBP's Husain on economic development in South Asia
In the speech 'Economic development in South Asia and the impact of globalization' given on 11 July Dr Ishrat Husain of the State Bank of Pakistan said South Asia has made substantial progress in the last decade to integrate in the World economy but…
Brazil ready to take more active inflation stance
Brazil's central bank revealed Thursday 29 July in the minutes of its last Copom monetary policy meeting that it was ready to raise take a "more active" position on price increases if there are signs inflation is rising at too fast a pace to meet its…
McTeer says euro was political not economic idea
Dallas Fed president Robert McTeer told the Latin American meeting of the Econometric Society in Santiago that the euro was a politically motivated project that may slow growth and that it was "never obvious" to him as an ideal currency area.
Turkey's cb chief warns over austerity measures
Turkish central bank chief Sureyya Serdengecti said on Wednesday 28 July that Turkey has to continue the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal under the current circumstances or risked a return to economic instability.
Central Bank of Iran - Annual Report 2002-2003
The Central Bank of Iran has published its Annual Report for the year ended 1381 (2002-2003). In the review year the increasing trend of international oil prices helped Iran enjoy positive and balanced growth in production and investment, the annual…
Chicago Fed's Moskow on the US economic outlook
In a speech on 'U.S. Economic Outlook' given on 23 July, Michael Moskow of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said the recent increase in U.S. inflation probably isn't enough to force the Federal Reserve to abandon its "measured" approach to interest…
BoJ: Technology shocks and role of monetary policy
This Bank of Japan Discussion Paper develops a quantitative, general-equilibrium business cycle model with imperfect common knowledge regarding technology shocks. The model predicts that a positive technology shock leads to a persistent decline in…
What's with Greenspan's hawkish talk?
This article says Alan Greenspan's recent more hawkish comments in testimony to Congress on July 20-21 have a lot to do with whom Greenspan was speaking for and to whom he was speaking. Mainly, his stern words about guarding against inflation reflect his…
BoE's Bean: current issues in UK monetary policy
In a speech on 'Some current issues in UK monetary policy' given on 28 July, Charlie Bean of the Bank of England said that "the immediate economic outlook appears brighter than it has done for a while".
OECD report says ECB should hold rates steady
The European Central Bank (ECB) will probably keep interest rates in the dozen euro nations at their six-decade low for the rest of the year to help an economic recovery still threatened by "large risks," the Organization for Economic Co-operation and…
Poland raises rates for a second month
Poland's central bank raised interest rates for the second month running after the inflation rate rose close to a three-year high.