Central Banking
SA Reserve Bank to learn about inflation targeting
SOUTH AFRICA - Experts from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) are to learn more about inflation targeting from their Canadian counterparts, in terms of an agreement signed in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes from the Bank of England's MPC meeting 5 and 6 June, released 19 June. The committee acknowledged the continuing economic recovery in the United States and the euro area's modest 0.2% growth in the first quarter.
Extreme Contagion in Equity Markets
RESEARCH - IMF Working Paper by Jorge Chan-Lau, Donald Mathieson and James Yao of the International Capital Markets Department, 18 June. Their results suggest that contagion patterns differ significantly within regions with Latin America showing an…
Federal Reserve Bulletin, June 2002
REPORT - Profits and Balance Sheet Developments at U.S. Commercial Banks in 2001 William F. Bassett and Mark Carlson, released 18 June.
Speech by J Alfred Broaddus, Richmond Fed, 5 Jun
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'An Update on the Economy and Monetary Policy' Broaddus said that the outlook for the next several quarters was 'murky' but that the recovery seemed firmly in place.
Speech by U Backstrom of Sveriges Riksbank, 7 Jun
SPEECH - Backstrom said in a speech titled 'The importance of a well-functioning stock market' that in order to reduce the risk of financial market imbalances, it is important that we have a well thought-out legislative, regulatory and supervisory…
Speech by Stephen Nickell, Bank of England, 19 Jun
SPEECH - In the paper titled 'Monetary Policy Issues: Past, Present, Future' Nickell answered questions such as Has the MPC demonstrated a bias towards deflation?, and What are the challenges for the immediate future?
Interview - Luxembourg central bank's Yves Mersch
FEATURE - Luxembourg Central Bank governor Yves Mersch said the European Central Bank is awaiting hard evidence of an upturn in the euro zone's manufacturing sector before raising interest rates. In an interview with AFX News he also said the decision of…
Fraga - Single digit real interest rates feasible
BRAZIL - Central Bank Chairman Arminio Fraga said it is feasible for the next administration to achieve single-digit real interest rates, official news agency Agencia Brasil reported.
Independent NBP will consider weaker zloty
POLAND - President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who last week agreed to become a mediator between the government and the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), after meeting the latter on Tuesday, has confirmed his dedication to the independence of Poland's central…
Chinese central banker - card development vital
CHINA - The Vice-Governor of the People's Bank of China Xiao Gang said Tuesday that the increased acceptance of banking cards was vital to raising commercial banks' competitiveness and facilitating daily life for the public.
Argentina to offer bonds for savings
ARGENTINA - Thousands of savers in Argentina have been given a month to decide if they want to swap their bank deposits for government bonds.
IMF to support Uruguay and Brazil
US - The International Monetary Fund has moved to provide financial help to Uruguay and Brazil, both affected by the crisis in Argentina.
Iran proposes change to central bank leadership
IRAN - The future of the post of Central Bank governor is still ambiguous in Iran, reports the Kayhan News website in Tehran.
China's gold exchange to open next month
CHINA - China's long-awaited liberalisation of the tightly controlled gold market will kick off with the opening of the Shanghai Gold Exchange next month, an exchange official has said.
Bank of Canada Working Paper 2002-16
RESEARCH - The Bank of Canada has published a paper titled 'A Market Microstructure Analysis of Foreign Exchange Intervention in Canada', by Chris D'Souza. He concludes that central banks considering intervention must also consider both the signal it…
Bank of Canada Working Paper 2002-15
RESEARCH - The Bank of Canada has pubished a paper on 'Corporate Bond Spreads and the Business Cycle' by Zhiwei Zhang. It examines the predictive power of credit spreads from the corporate bond market. High-yield bond and investment-grade spreads can…
Bank of Japan Working Paper 02-4
RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan has published a paper on 'Deposit Money Creation in Search Equilibrium' by Keiichiro Kobayashi in which the endogenous creation of bank credit and deposit money is modeled. The Central Limit Theorem implies that the…
Bank of Japan Working Paper 02-E-2
RESEARCH - The Bank of Japan's Financial Markets Department has produced research on 'Market Microstructure and Spread Pattern in the JASDAQ Market'. It examines empirical analyses of spread patterns for stocks listed on JASDAQ in order to ascertain the…
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin Summer 2002
REPORT - The Bank of England has released its Quarterly Bulletin for Summer 2002. It includes articles on why spending on durable goods needs to be analysed differently from that on other types of goods, providing possible explanations for its recent…
Bank of England Inflation Attitudes Survey May 02
SURVEY - The Bank of England has published the results to its Inflation Attitudes Survey which is conducted quarterly. An article in the summer Quarterly Bulletin, also published today, examines the trends seen in the four surveys up to and including…
The role of fiscal policy in crisis situations
ARTICLE - Flemming Larsen, Director of the IMF Office in Europe, has responded to Joseph Stiglitz's in Les Echos on June 3, 'L'actualite de Keynes'. Larsen counters criticisms that the IMF imposes hardship on crisis-stricken countries, as they only point…
Slovak central bank's intervention successful
SLOVAKIA - The National Bank of Slovakia succeeded in propping up the koruna after intervening twice on Monday to support the beleaguered currency. Dealers say that it spent between 40-60m euros in the process.
Brazil cb to wait to sell long term debt next year
BRAZIL - The Brazilian central bank is likely to wait until 2003 until it begins selling its longer-dated public debt again. Two weeks ago the government began to swap long-dated government securities for short-term debt to counter the growing reluctance…