Financial crisis
Prosecutors file charges against ex-Thai c bank
THAILAND - Prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a former central bank chief for losses of 185.9 billion baht ($4.2 billion) in defending the baht against massive speculative trading in 1997 that plunged the country into financial crisis.
IMF Working Paper Consequences of Russia's Crisis
RESEARCH - The Russian Financial Crisis and its Consequences for Central Asia by Gonzalo Pastor and Tatiana Damjanovic, International Monetary Fund, October 2001.
Thailand may sue ex-central bank chief
THAILAND - Thailand's public prosecutor has recommended suing Rerngchai Marakanond, former central bank governor, for $1.6m ( £1.1m) for exhausting the country's foreign currency reserves in a failed defence of the baht, the trigger for the 1997 Asian…
Luxembourg's secret euro plan
LUXEMBOURG - Luxembourg was prepared to break up its monetary union with Belgium at the height of the crisis in Europe's exchange rate mechanism (ERM) in 1993, the country's prime minister has revealed.
Financial regulator rejects Tory call for probe
UK - The City regulator has rejected Conservative calls for an investigation of the government's role in the collapse of Railtrack, and told MPs if impropriety were proven it would be up to the government to prosecute itself.
Prime candidate for Bank of England hot seat
ARTICLE - In all the turmoil over a momentous weekend, a valuable contribution to City gossip is in danger of being overlooked. The esteemed City chronicler, Christopher Fildes, reminded us in his Spectator column last week that the next big job vacancy…
Hayami: Financial systems more stable than 1998
JAPAN - Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said Thursday 4 October that Japan's financial system is much more stable than it was in 1998, when the nation came to the brink of a full-blown financial crisis.
The 'Zimbabwe effect' takes toll on currency
The 'Zimbabwe effect' takes toll on currency - Central bank governor Linah Mohohlo says Botswana's profile has been rocked thanks to its proximity to political turmoil.
Argentina looks to $6bn IMF loan
ARGENTINA - Argentine officials are confident of winning support for a new loan of $6bn or more from the International Monetary Fund to help the country contain the crisis of confidence engulfing its economy.
Currency Crises: the Role of Banks
This IMF working paper, by Piti Disyatat examines the aftermath of recent currency crises. Why did the developed countries which devalued during the ERM crisis fare so much better than those developing countries caught up in the Asian crisis of 1997-8?.
Former Bank of Thailand governors face prosecution
According to Thailand's deputy finance minister, senior former officials from the Bank of Thailand my soon face prosecution for their role in the 1997 currrency crisis.
Is the crisis problem growing more severe?
ARTICLE - In the latest issue of journal Economic Policy, economist Barry Eichengreen et al ask whether financial crises are becoming more frequent and more disruptive. Looking back over 120 years of financial history, the authors find that there is …
Moral Hazard Issues in Banking-BoF conference
SEMINAR - The Bank of Finland and the Centre for Economic and Policy Research are holding a conference on "Moral Hazard Issues in Banking" from Mar 15-16, 2001. A number of distinguished economists and central bankers are presenting papers. The programme…
Currency crisis in emerging markets - predictable?
RESEARCH PAPER - Brazil and Argentina are among the countries most vulnerable to a currency crisis, according to a new model developed by a Dutch central bank economist which had been flashing warning signals about Turkey back in December 2000.
Currency crises and foreign reserves-IMF paper
RESEARCH PAPER - In a new IMF working paper, economist Piti Disyatat asks how far a government will run down its currency reserves in defence of a fixed exchange rate. He also uses an optimizing model of currency crisis to determine whether or not a…
The EMS crisis in retrospect-Eichengreen
This Centre for Economic and Policy Research discussion paper by Barry Eichengreen reconsiders the 1992/3 crisis in the European Monetary System in light of its emerging market successors. That episode was a predecessor of the Mexican and Asian crises in…
Information flows during Asian crisis-BIS paper
In a BIS working paper "Information flows during the Asian crisis: Evidence from closed-end funds" Benjamin H Cohen and Eli M Remolona look at the collapse of Asian stock markets that took place over several months in 1997 and ask what information was…
Books on the Asian crisis and its aftermath
So many books have been written about the causes of the Asian financial crisis from 1997-99 and about the lessons for policymakers. We review three of these books: "Asia Falling: making sense of the Asian crisis and its aftermath," "Asia in Crisis: the…
IMF offers $10bn to ease Turkish banking crisis
The International Monetary Fund said it will provide more than $10 billion in financial support for Turkey to help ease a sharp liquidity crisis that has sent the country's interest rates soaring and depleted central bank reserves.
Financial crises in the emerging markets
A new paper just published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York about financial crises in emerging markets and the role of the public and private sector.