Central Banking
Testimony of Otmar Issing of the ECB, 20 Mar
TESTIMONY - Issing said in his testimony to the European Parliament that the euro area economy will speed up in the course of the year but inflation would remain subdued. "Recent data point to a recovery starting moderately in early 2002 and accelerating…
Bank of Japan Monthly Report
REPORT - Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments from the Bank of Japan, March 2002, released 25 March.
Business Outlook Survey
REPORT - The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published its regular Business Outlook Survey for March 2002.
Speech by Ian Macfarlane, Governor, RBA, 22 Mar
SPEECH - Macfarlane's address, on 'Sir Leslie Melville: His Contribution to Central Banking in Australia', outlined Melville's role at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when it served as both the central bank and a commercial bank.
Annual accounts of the ECB
ANNUAL ACCOUNTS - Annual accounts of the ECB for the year ending 31 December 2001 released 21 March 2002 (to be published in the ECB's Annual Report 2001 on 23 April 2002).
Argentina sets new forex controls to prop up peso
ARGENTINA - Argentina's Central Bank on Monday introduced measures to tighten controls on the foreign exchange market in an effort to stop record falls in the peso that had threatened to throw the government's economic policy into turmoil.
Wadhwani - Current high interest rate policy risky
UK - Rising household debt and the possibility of a depreciation in sterling's exchange rate aren't sufficient grounds to keep interest rates higher than necessary, said one of the Bank of England's nine interest-rate setters Monday.
S Africa c bank reiterate difference with Zimbabwe
SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa's central bank reiterated on Monday the factors that distinguished its economy from neighbouring Zimbabwe, whose woes have dented investor confidence in the region and adversely hit the rand.
Gerashchenko stays with central bank
RUSSIA - Viktor Gerashchenko, former chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, plans to take the post of an economic adviser at the Scientific and Research Institute of the Bank of Russia reports Novecon.
China central bank chief to visit Japan this week
JAPAN - People's Bank of China Governor Dai Xianglong will visit Japan this week to sign a bilateral currency swap pact, Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said Monday.
Fraga defends more flexible account inviolability
BRAZIL - More flexible rules for breaking bank account inviolability, allied with a solid international cooperation among banks and government financial institutions, is a fundamental weapon to combat money laundering in the world, according to Central…
BNB aims at more effective control of gold reserve
BULGARIA - The board of governors of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is engaged in continuous debates on the options for a more effective management of Bulgaria's monetary gold reserves, deputy governor Martin Zaimov told reporters.
Phasing out the euro with e-money
FEATURE - Now that the physical euro has been successfully introduced, it is time to press ahead with the next phase - getting rid of the physical euro.
The long and short of it for central banks
FEATURE - Never mind the question about when and how far they should follow the US FOMC. Asian central banks have their hands full at the long end of the curve at the moment.
ECB's Issing says high Greek inflation "worrying"
GREECE - Greece's higher than eurozone average inflation is a "worrying development" that poses problems to Greek competitiveness, European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing said on Sunday.
Independence vital for Russia's central bank - PM
RUSSIA - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said the Central Bank of Russia must be independent.
Germany creates super-regulator, reform Bundesbank
GERMANY - Germany's parliament agreed on Friday to sweeping changes on how the country's financial markets are supervised and run and, against expectations, passed a law that will shrink management at the once-mighty Bundesbank, report Reuters.
Welteke flags Buba may sell gold, buy stocks
GERMANY - Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke on Monday surprised central bank watchers by signalling the bank might consider selling part of its gold reserves and reinvesting the proceeds in shares as well as in bonds.
ECB urges independence of central banks
UK - For central and eastern European countries keen to enter the eurozone, the European Central Bank has a message: be patient, continue to pursue economic reforms and, at all costs, do not undermine the independence of your central banks.
Facelift for the greenback
US - Redback, pinkback, and blueback may not have quite the same ring as greenback. Nevertheless, US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is considering plans to replace the famously green hue of dollar notes with a rainbow of seven different colours.
Speech by T Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB, 21 Mar
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'Accession Countries on the Way to the Euro: A Central Banker's View' Padoa-Schioppa said a carefully chosen timeframe for euro adoption by new members after they join the EU would ensure that fighting inflation would not…
Federal Open Market Committee Meeting - Minutes
MINUTES - The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday released the minutes of its Federal Open Market Committee Meeting from 29-30 January 2002, released 21 March.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand News Release
NEWS RELEASE - OCR increased to 5 per cent, 20 March.
Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meetings, 20 March
NEWS RELEASE - At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Bank of Japan decided, by majority vote, to maintain the following guideline for money market operations for the intermeeting period: