Sterling
Comment: Sweden sheds reserve dollars
The Swedish Riksbank dropped a bit of a bombshell on international currency markets on Friday 21 April by announcing a significant reduction in the share of dollars and yen in its foreign reserves portfolio. Although Sweden has a relatively small…
China reveals details of yuan basket
China announced major currency market reforms on Wednesday 8 August and also published details of the basket of currencies to which the bank refers in managing the float of the yuan.
Obituary: John Page 1923-2005
Elizabeth Hennessy looks back on the career of John Page, whose influence as chief cashier at the Bank ran throughout the City.
The Bank’s reforms take shape
Central Banking reports on the Bank of England’s plans to revolutionise the way it sets interest rates.
Nigeria may move from dollar reserves
The Central Bank of Nigeria may consider reducing Nigeria's exposure to the United States dollar by moving the country's reserve towards the pound sterling and euro as a result of the continuing decline in the value of the dollars, a press report in…
Reform of the Bank of England's operations
The Bank of England on 22 July announced the result of its review of its official operations in the sterling money markets. The Bank will initiate a new system based on averaging with voluntary reserves remunerated at the Bank's repo rate.
Mervyn King's Statement to UK Treasury Committee
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told the UK parliament's Treasury Select Committee on Thursday 25 March that he wants to update the trade-weighted sterling index and has been in talks about doing so.
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…
The inconsistency of the anti-euro lobby
ARTICLE - Consider these two assertions. We cannot possibly join the euro because sterling is grotesquely overvalued - locking in today's exchange rate would condemn the economy to stagnation. Giving up sterling would be madness - robbing Britain of a…
Scotland to be first to print its own euros?
UK - The Bank of Scotland chiefs are fronting a campaign, which aims to allow Scotland to become the first region in the European Union to print its own euros, if the pound is scrapped.
Worrying poll finds Britons confused by euro idea
UK - Almost a third of Britons believe the country could keep the pound after it had joined the euro, according to internal polling conducted for the No campaign.
Historical Model Describes 1900s Gold Standard
RESEARCH - An article in the latest edition of Economic Perspectives, from the Chicago Fed, looks at how the United States adopted the gold standard in the late nineteenth century, pegging the dollar to the British pound sterling and other currencies.
UK's anti-euro lobby enlist help of celebrities
UK - A British cinema advertisement in which comedian Rik Mayall mimics Adolf Hitler plunged the campaign to keep the pound into a row on Tuesday.
Warning from Bank of England over euro timetable
UK - Ministers must not be tempted into shortening the timetable for scrapping the pound if Britain votes to join the euro, the Bank of England has warned.
Bank of England Report
REPORT - The Bank of England's Operations in the Sterling Money Markets, 16 May.
Welteke - Pound must fall before euro entry
GERMANY - The president of the Bundesbank, Ernst Welteke, has said he thinks the pound would have to be devalued before Britain could join the single currency.
Keep floating, stop worrying
FEATURE - The real case for an independent pound has nothing to do with ultra-nationalism or hostility to Europe writes Samuel Brittan in Thursday's Financial Times. He suggests the British government allow use of the euro as a parallel currency and…
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.
BofE George warns of possible threat to inflation
UK - Sir Edward George, the governor of the Bank of England, has warned of the risk that the economy will slow further at the same time as the pound falls, putting upward pressure on inflation.
Punt passes away quietly
IRELAND - The Irish pound ceased to be legal tender from midnight on Saturday as Ireland became the second country within the eurozone - after the Netherlands - to ditch its old notes and coins.
Bank of England official: 'Leave pound alone'
UK - A senior Bank of England official has warned against artificially reducing the value of the pound.
Sterling may not have to enter ERM to join euro
UK - Brussels has smoothed the path to British entry to the euro, by suggesting that sterling might not have first to rejoin the Exchange Rate Mechanism for two years.
Egyptian central bank cancels import restrictions
EGYPT - The Central Bank of Egypt said Monday it had cancelled import restriction proposals that were designed to protect the declining Egyptian pound and boost the sluggish economy.
BoE Plenderleith comments on sterling bond market
SPEECH - In a speech to a conference organised by the Association of British Insurers on Apr 2, 2001, Ian Plenderleith, executive director of the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, reviews developments in the sterling non-gilt…