Euro
ECB to study lending policies with survey
The European Central Bank will begin conducting a quarterly survey next year of credit policies practised by banks operating in the 12-nation euro zone. The move comes just days after the Irish central bank warned lenders to stick within guidelines.
Poland sees risk of delaying EMU entry
A member of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) of the central bank, Boguslaw Grabowski, sees a risk of delay in Poland's accession to the euro zone because of possible problems in reducing the budget deficit.
Cutting kronas in Sweden
ARTICLE - As we reported earlier in the week Swedish prime minister Goran Persson is set to name the date for the euro referendum next week. The proposed referendum on Sweden's entry to the euro looks like taking place in Autumn 2003. However on current…
London not losing out over euro says B of E
In its six monthly 'Practical Issues Arising from the Euro' the Bank of England said on Friday that the City of London had retained its share of foreign exchange trading and in various other dealing areas since the introduction of the euro as a tradeable…
Greens win reprieve on Irish notes landfill site
The problem of what to do with the old legacy currencies replaced by the euro reared its head in Ireland as the central bank bowed to pressure and agreed to look again at what it was doing with the old Irish punts and not just dump them in landfill sites.
Italy poised to put strict curb on public spending
After much recent talk on the stability and growth pact Italy looks set to restrict spending in an effort to avoid sanctions which other euro zone countries have recently incurred for not restricting their budget deficits to within 3 percent of GDP. The…
Heikensten on the krona, Sweden and EMU
SPEECH - In the speech 'The krona, Sweden and EMU' Lars Heikensten of the Sveriges Riksbank said the most likely time for a referendum to Sweden's entry to the euro would be Autumn 2003. If Sweden was to enter ERM2 Heikensten said, the decision on the…
Sweden to set course for decision on euro entry
Sweden looks set to name a date for a referendum on entry to the euro. Swedish central bank deputy governor Lars Heikensten recently said in a speech that the most likely date for a referendum would be Autumn 2003. In an interview Swedish PM Goran…
Welteke says risks to economic growth are high
Bundesbank chief Ernst Welteke implied the ECB may be close to easing interest rates. Speaking in Stockholm he said that the euro zone economy had risks on the downside and that low growth posed more of a threat than inflation.
Britain held back by isolation from euro
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, 18 November by Simon Buckby, Campaign Director, Britain in Europe. He says Britain's label of the 'reluctant European' has cost it dear and membership of the euro will be the first step in repairing the…
Domingo Solans on the euro as a driving force
SPEECH - Eugenio Domingo Solans of the European Central Bank said five years is a very short period of time in the normal life of a central bank. He compared the ECB to the Banco de San Carlos, the forerunner of the Bank of Spain created in 1782…
Swedes to hold euro referendum
SWEDEN - Sweden gets the go ahead for a euro referendum from the government but as we reported last week deputy governor of the Swedish Central Bank, Eva Srejber, thinks 2006 is a realistic timetable for Sweden to enter EMU. Swedish trade unionists…
German coins make their mark in the eurozone
GERMANY - Though recent surveys suggest many Germans want their old marks back, it looks like German minted euro coins are poised to flood across borders. Because a third of all euro coins are produced with German national images on the reverse some…
Sterling coins may contain more nickel than euros
UK - Britain in Europe (BiE), a lobby group who campaign for UK entry to the euro, have come up with the perfect riposte to euro sceptics who complain that the euro coins contain high levels of nickel which can cause skin irritation. A Europhile lobby…
ECB Monthly Bulletin, November 2002
REPORT - The European Central Bank published its November 2002 Monthly Bulletin on 14 November. The bulletin contains three articles. The first focuses on the issue of the accountability of the ECB. The second addresses the importance of transparency in…
Economists' expectation of UK euro entry falls
UK - Financial markets indicate expectations of Britain joining the euro are receding as a result of the lack of any movement in the opinion polls, according to economists at HSBC.
Bank of England is model for 'new' ECB
FRANCE - The path towards Britain's possible entry into the euro will be made much easier by a radical French plan for the European Central Bank to be reformed in the image of the Bank of England.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
Euro rises above $1 mark in trading
GERMANY - The euro rose above a dollar Tuesday and hit its highest level against the U.S. currency in more than three months amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery may be faltering.
The ECB and Euro-Area Enlargement
RESEARCH - IMF Working Paper by Helge Berger, October 2002. The likely enlargement of euro-area membership will radically change the environment under which monetary policy will be made in the euro area. This paper looks at the consequences of such an…
Swedes could reject euro, says union body
SWEDEN - The head of Sweden's powerful blue collar labour organisation has warned that Swedes could reject membership of the euro unless the government takes special measures to protect the country's cherished welfare model.
The euro goes East
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa reports the results of a survey by the ECB on the private holdings and use of the euro outside the euro area itself.
IMF report on the Policies of the Euro Area
REPORT - International Monetary Fund Staff Report on the Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies of the Euro Area. The report includes sections on movements towards greater central bank transparency, predictability of central bank interest rate decisions,…
UK Minister admits damage of not being in euro
UK - Staying out of the euro has hit foreign investment in Britain, Patricia Hewitt the trade and industry secretary admitted yesterday as she vowed that the government would move "speedily and decisively" to a referendum if the five economic tests were…