Opinion/Central Banks
Comment: Unravelling the RBA hike
The Reserve Bank of Australia has joined the world's leading central banks in tightening mode. Last week's rate rise was largely unexpected and opinion is split over how far the central bank will go in hiking rates this year.
Comment: Trichet sounds his warning
After having made it clear that an interest rate increase was highly unlikely, the ECB's monetary policy meeting this week was all about how to signal future rate hikes pencilled in for later this year. Jean-Claude Trichet's message yesterday, 3 May, was…
Comment: Global impacts of US monetary policy
A recent ECB working paper finds that emerging markets stock markets returns can be reduced by more than 10% in response to a 100 basis point increase in US monetary policy rates. On average global equity markets fall by 3.8%.
Comments: Reserve diversification
Recent reports of the diversification official foreign exchange reserves in the Middle East have not gone unnoticed. Economists are starting to ask if the prospect of large-scale reserve diversification is back on the international agenda, following a…
Comment: Will the Fund's new approach matter?
Stephen Roach, managing director and chief economist of Morgan Stanley, suggests that the renewed debate on the role of the international financial institutions is missing questions that "should be near the top of the global agenda".
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…
Comment: Transparent monetary policy
The "transparency revolution" in modern monetary policy is little over a decade old. Just recently, some commentators have started to ask whether this development can go too far. Although it certainly could in theory, it probably hasn't yet.
Comment: The IMF's Global FSR
The IMF yesterday unveiled its latest Global Financial Stability Report at the Bank of England head office in London. "The near-term outlook is as good as it gets," Gerd Hausler, director of the IMF's capital markets unit, said at the press conference.
Comment: The IMF's challenge
Raghuram Rajan, the IMF's economic counsellor and director of research, said in a speech Monday 10 April at the Kiel Institute that "as the reserves of advanced emerging markets fall, they may well want to re-engage with the Fund". Behind these remarks…
Comment: Exposed currencies cause jitters
The Central Bank of Iceland raised interest rates by 75 basis points last week. The central bank is concerned over the possibility of further declines in the Icelandic krona, which has fallen 12% against the US dollar this year.
Comment: More of the same from Bernanke
The Fed completed its first monetary policy meeting under the chairmanship of Ben Bernanke on Tuesday 28 March. The 25 basis point increase - taking US rates to 4.75% - was a mere formality, but Fed watchers were preparing to pore over the accompanying…
Gold and foreign exchange reserves
According to the article "What percentage should gold in foreign exchange reserves be?" published Monday 20 March, currencies have a poor history and it is infinitely wise to protect against the worst possible eventuality.
CBN Comment on UK Budget
Three little-noticed items from the budget delivered March 22 by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, will be of interest to central banks and market regulators.
Comment: The 'yield conundrum' revisited
Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, made it clear in a speech earlier this week that he is no closer than his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, to making sense of the 'yield conundrum'.
G. William Miller led Fed in Carter years
According to this obituary published on Monday 20 March, former Federal Reserve chairman G. William Miller helped transform textiles company Textron Inc. into a global force, and was also active in civic life and political organisations.
Bet on the Fed pausing at 5 percent
Federal Reserve officials seem more likely to pause in raising their target for the overnight lending rate when it reaches 5 percent than to push it up to 5.5 percent, according to this article published Wednesday 15 March.
Interview with Malta's Bonello
In a recent interview, Michael C Bonello, governor of the Central Bank of Malta, talks about the challenges faced by the Maltese economy ahead of euro adoption and their implications for monetary policy.
Comment: Yellen's 'long-run' inflation target
San Francisco Fed president, Janet Yellen, who has emerged as one of Ben Bernanke's strongest allies in the inflation targeting debate at the Fed, provided further insights into what she regards as the optimal design of such a framework in a speech on…
Bank of Japan takes big risk with policy change
According to this article published on Friday 10 March, by ditching its quantitative easing policy the Bank of Japan may be making one of the biggest mistakes in its history.
Comment: Unravelling the BoJ message
The Bank of Japan put an end to its "quantitative easing" policy last week. Although the timing was slightly ahead of expectations, the move itself was widely anticipated. Attention has now turned to unravelling the implications of the central bank's new…
Comment: Measuring financial fragility
Central banks and regulators have created well-staffed financial stability departments, producing voluminous reports and reviews. However, policymakers are not always sure what they are aiming at in this opaque, but systemically important, area. New…
Comment: Has the ECB become more credible?
A recent New York Fed staff paper finds that market perceptions of the ECB's "inflation aversion" have improved significantly over the last six years, reflecting the idea that monetary policy has been guided by a dedication to price stability.
Comment: Busy week for policymakers
This week is a busy one for monetary policymakers, with policy meetings taking place in Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Here is a brief look at what's been on the mind of central bankers in these countries.