Data
Proportion of central banks observing blackout period rises
AE respondents remain much more likely to employ the practice
Central banks average four forecast updates a year
Final decision on projections jointly taken by policy-makers and staff in most jurisdictions
Monetary policy staff numbers average below 40
European institutions and advanced economy central banks tend to have highest number of staff
Ukraine’s governor on central banking in wartime
Andriy Pyshnyy talks about macroeconomic stability, running banks under missile attack, winning IMF aid and post-war reconstruction plans
Inflation targeters tend to pay monetary policy staff more
Salaries tend to rise with GDP per capita but less developed economies pay larger multiples
Confidentiality of policy votes remains common practice
Proportion of central banks revealing voting information with a lag creeps up
Monetary policy reports usually published four times annually
Institutions from Africa tend to release fewer publications
Treasury officials more likely to serve on advanced economy MPCs
Monetary policy committees or boards comprise 8.2 people on average globally
Use of asset purchase programmes for monetary policy wanes
Additional central banks end scheme, as more institutions forecast decrease
No significant risk of US recession – St Louis Fed research
Sahm Rule and leading economic data indicate low – but not zero – recession risk
Few central banks brief fiscal authorities on monetary decisions
But practice is more common in institutions from the Americas
Communications Benchmarks 2023 – presentation
Specialist Jimmy Choi discusses communication strategies, social media, staffing and more
Debt issuance powers remain key attribute of most central banks
Proportion of non-debt issuing institutions narrows year-on-year to 6%
US housing inflation will slow in early 2024, Dallas Fed paper says
Researcher uses vector error correction model to estimate housing market pressures
BoJ’s easing stance fuels yen undervaluation dilemma
Japanese policy-makers need to consider feedback loop that an undervalued yen has on cost-push inflation; reflect on YCC exit options in ‘broad perspective review’, writes Sayuri Shirai
Median RTGS system processes nearly $100bn annually
Median value of payments rose by $15bn from the previous benchmark
Primary RTGS systems have average $1.65m in operating costs
Majority of central banks increased payments system divisions budgets in the past year
Payments oversight is under-resourced for a third of central banks
Respondents identify shortage of human capital, capacity building and dated technology as concerns
Few non-banks have access to RTGS systems
Maximum number of institutions reported to have access to one RTGS system was 233
Most central banks have payment and settlement supervision mandates
Payment system laws contain oversight powers in two-thirds of jurisdictions
Data privacy laws can boost fintech lending – BIS paper
Study finds Californian law led to more data being shared with fintech firms
Payment ecosystems remain relatively unchanged over past year
Most central banks help price RTGS services and many do for credit transfers and direct debits
Central banks report having one to three RTGS contingency sites
Most central banks experienced a high-value payment system outage in the last year