Central Banking
SARB-South Africa's inflation outlook has improved
SOUTH AFRICA - Central bank governor Tito Mboweni sent a strong signal on Tuesday that interest rates may not rise again in November, saying the country's inflation outlook had improved "significantly".
Duisenberg urges reforms
EUROPE - Wim Duisenberg, head of the European Central Bank, on Tuesday said a lack of confidence in markets and uncertainty are the bigger problems for the European economy rather than the ECB's oft-criticized hold on interest rates.
BOK likely to raise call rate: Deutsche Bank
KOREA - Deutsche Bank yesterday forecast the Korean central bank will increase the overnight call rate by 25 basis points to 4.50 percent at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting slated for tomorrow.
US banks 'quite healthy' - Fed's Greenspan
US - Consumers and home owners helped the US banking system absorb bad business loans and remain 'quite healthy,' Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said.
Economy improving, O'Neill tells bankers
US - The U.S. economy is likely grew at least 3 percent during the third quarter and will show slightly more robust performance in the current quarter and beyond, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill predicted in Phoenix on Monday.
Chinese central bankers in visit to Taiwan
TAIWAN - A China central bank delegation heading to Taiwan may include the highest-level official yet to visit the island as Taiwan banks prepare to open their first offices across the strait, the Taipei Times said.
Afghan bank governor wants aid to be productive
INTERVIEW - Afghanistan's U.S.-educated central bank head says he wants to see the war-ravaged country standing on its own feet economically within four to five years. In an interview given to Reuters at the weekend he also revealed he has two full time…
Brazil central bank moves to prop up currency
BRAZIL - Brazil's Central Bank on Monday made it more expensive for banks to hold foreign currency and gold assets in hopes of propping up its own local currency, the real.
Central Bank of Russia offers more zodiac coins
RUSSIA - The Central Bank of Russia will issue more coins of the Zodiac series, starting tomorrow. It will be Scorpio now-silver two-rouble pieces and gold 25 roubles. Up to 20,000 silver coins will appear in circulation, and up to 50,000 gold, said the…
Chicago Fed Letter, November 2002
PUBLICATION - The November 2002 issue of the Chicago Fed Letter is titled 'A regional perspective on the U.S. business cycle'. It is not difficult to come up with a definition of the business cycle that most of us would understand. A thornier issue is…
Bank of England News Release
NEWS RELEASE - Bank of England Meetings in Manchester and Liverpool, 7 October.
Bank of Japan Discussion Paper
RESEARCH - 'Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the European Monetary Union' by Juergen von Hagen and Matthias Brueckner - The introductory phase of the European Monetary Union ended with the emission of euro currency in 2002. This paper presents a review of…
New appointments at the Riksbank
PRESS RELEASE - At its meeting on 3 October, the Executive Board of the Riksbank decided to appoint the Head of the Monetary Policy Department Claes Berg advisor to the future Governor Lars Heikensten with effect from 1 January 2003.
The Regional Economist, October 2002
PUBLICATION - The Quarterly Review of Business and Economic Conditions, The Regional Economist, edition from the St Louis Fed contains an article 'Story Time at the FOMC'. Formal data don't tell policy-makers everything they need to know about the…
Federal Reserve Bulletin - October 2002
REPORT - Article by Brian M. Doyle and Jon Faust titled 'An Investigation of Co-movements among the Growth Rates of the G-7 Countries'.
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - In this weeks special feature CentralBankNet looks at the issue of asset price bubbles. Central bankers have come under some criticism recently for a failure to control such 'irrational exuberance', but hit back that it's not their job…
Speech by David Dodge, Bank of Canada, 5 Oct
SPEECH - In a speech on 'Dollarization and North American Integration', Dodge discusses the benefits and costs of a floating exchange rate versus dollarization, given the current conditions, and the implications for the floating exchange rate should the…
Bank of Canada research on monetary shocks
RESEARCH - This paper studies the persistent effects of monetary shocks on output. The paper constructs and estimates a general-equilibrium model with price rigidities, habit formation, and costly capital adjustment. Econometric results indicate that…
Speech by Roger Ferguson, Federal Reserve, 3 Oct
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Business Continuity after September 11' Ferguson looks at business-continuity challenges and discusses a related white paper that US regulators have recently published for public consultation. He also highlights the…
Reserve Bank of New Zealand - Annual Report 2002
ANNUAL REPORT - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has published its Annual Report for 2002.
IMF Survey, Vol. 31, No 18, October 7
SURVEY - The latest issue includes various reports on the 2002 Annual Meetings: overview, speeches, communiques, press conferences. There are also articles on African capacity building, FDI website, Burton to head Asia-Pacific Department, prolonged use…
Afghanistan launches new currency
AFGHANISTAN - Afghanistan launched a new currency on Monday aiming to regain control of an economy devastated by more than 23 years of war and internal strife. Redenomination of the afghani will involve lopping three zeros from a currency so eroded in…
Former Latvia cb chief wins most seats in election
LATVIA - The newly-formed New Era party of ex-central bank chief Einars Repse has obtained the most seats in a close-run race in Latvia's parliamentary elections. Based on official provisional results from all but one polling station, Repse's party…
Takenaka asks BoJ to set inflation target
JAPAN - Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka has asked the Bank of Japan to set an inflation target in a bid to ease deflation pressure seen as a result of banks' bad loan write-offs.