Euro
ECB head predicts harmonisation call
EUROPE - Wim Duisenberg, European Central Bank president, yesterday forecast the introduction of euro notes and coins would lead to public demand for more harmonisation in the European Union, with particular focus on taxes.
ECB sees gradual recovery in 2002, lower inflation
GERMANY - The European Central Bank said on Thursday the euro zone economy showed signs of a recovery later this year and reiterated inflation should drop safely below its two-percent ceiling.
Voters 'will back euro' if economic tests passed
UK - Tony Blair would win a euro referendum just by saying that Britain had passed the five economic tests for joining, according to a poll published on Wednesday.
French firm sues over euro notes
FRANCE - Have euro notes design breached copyright? A French company claims a map of Europe printed on every euro bank note breaches a copyright it owns on the design. The ECB does not agree.
BIS research papers
RESEARCH - Research from the BIS 'Comparing monetary policy operating procedures across the United States, Japan and the euro area', Monetary and Economic Department, Bank for International Settlements, December 2001.
ECB - Over 90% of banknotes now replaced by euro
GERMANY - The amount of euro banknotes in circulation has reached more than 90% of the estimated number needed to replace the national banknotes circulating in the euro zone in 2001, the European Central Bank said Friday.
Let pounds and euros compete
ARTICLE - For well over a decade there has been a ceaseless political battle over whether Britain ought to join the euro. The introduction of euro notes and coins at the beginning of this year has raised the decibel level of the controversy but has not…
Shoppers and forgers move to euro
EUROPE - Two weeks after the launch of euro notes and coins, more than 90% of transactions in Ireland are being made in the currency, the country's official changeover body said.
ECB chief: Prices safe from euro launch
EUROPE - Fears of rising prices across Europe as retailers cash in on the change to the euro have been confounded, according to the head of the European Central Bank.
China ranks US Dlr as No 1 component of reserves
CHINA - People's Bank of China Governor Dai Xianglong on Tuesday ranked U.S. dollars as the major component of the country's foreign reserves, ahead of the euro and yen.
Blair and Straw in euro entry talks
UK - Britain yesterday held talks about the euro with Denmark and Sweden, the two other EU countries that are outside the eurozone.
Euros become majority currency in Ireland
IRELAND - The amount of euros in circulation has for the first time surpassed the amount of pounds in circulation, according to latest figures from the Central Bank of Ireland. At close of business on Thursday, the Central Bank had issued 148 million…
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Update on the euro cash changeover, 11 January 2002.
Sweden may hold referendum on euro next year
SWEDEN - Goran Persson, Sweden's prime minister, yesterday indicated he was ready to hold a referendum on euro membership next year.
ECB's Issing sees 'tentative' signs of recovery
GERMANY - European Central Bank chief economist Otmar Issing said that there are "tentative" signs of a recovery in the euro zone economy, and that a "significant" upturn is possible in 2002.
Euro used for 75% of payments
EUROPE - The euro is now being used for nearly three quarters of cash payments in the 12-nation single currency zone, according to the European Commission.
Ireland's euro transition outpaces EU
IRELAND - Ireland is outpacing other euro-zone countries in the euro changeover with the number of Irish pounds in circulation falling almost twice as fast as other national currencies, reports an Irish newspaper.
New euros brings old coin windfall for beggars
GERMANY - The euro's launch may be causing headaches for cashiers and heartache for nationalists around Europe, but the single currency has dumped windfall profits into the laps of an unsuspecting group: beggars.
Joint Press Conference on the euro introduction
PRESS CONFERENCE - Joint press conference given by the EU Presidency, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission on the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins, Frankfurt am Main, 3 January 2002.
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Update on the euro cash changeover, 7 January 2002.
China mulls boosting euro reserves
CHINA - Just as the initial euphoria from the introduction of notes and coins wears off, the euro has received a boost from news that China could be buying more euros to reduce its reliance on the dollar.
ECB - ATM conversion to euro now finalised
GERMANY - The conversion of automated teller machines, or ATMs, is now finalised, the European Central Bank said Monday in an update on the euro cash changeover.
ECB interest rates unchanged
GERMANY - As widely expected the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged with officials largely focused this week on the launch of euro notes and coins.
Euro changeover "better than expected"
GERMANY - The European Central Bank reported on Wednesday that the launch of euro cash was progressing smoothly despite exceptionally high demand for the new notes. "The euro cash changeover is going smoothly, even better than we had expected," said ECB…