Articles by Central Banking Newsdesk
Rate decisions this week
Majority of central banks to vote this week hold rates constant though dissent voiced in the US and South Africa; Philippines and India tighten, Hungary loosens
Senate backs Bernanke for second term
Lawmakers vote 70 to 30 in favour
FSA’s Turner wants new macroprudential body
The UK’s top regulator Adair Turner says a body other than the Bank of England is needed to implement macroprudential supervision
Monthly report (January) – Bank of Japan
Bank of Japan sees upward pressure on corporate goods prices, increases in exports and production
A new default and credit risk model for Korea
Bank of Korea research develops a model to estimate the probability of default using new indicators such as debt-to-equity ratios that better explain behaviour
RBI hints at tightening ahead of policy meet
Reserve Bank of India flags inflation as “major concern” on eve of rate vote
Malawi’s reserves insufficient and volatile: Ligoya
Reserve Bank of Malawi’s Perks Ligoya says export diversification needed to generate stable foreign-exchange income
Joint fiscal stimulus does everyone good
Bank of Canada looks at the potential effect of the joint fiscal policy initiatives of the G20 in 2009 and 2010
Frank says Fed presidents shouldn’t vote on policy
Head of House Financial Services Committee labels heads of regional Federal Reserves “private citizens selected by other private citizens”
Reshape debt to prevent future crises: Bank’s Haldane
Bank of England director Andrew Haldane points to debt-equity swaps and contingent capital as means to avoid another debt crisis; says shareholder dividends should have been saved
Kansas’s Hoenig dissents at FOMC meeting
Kansas Fed president Thomas Hoenig votes against action to keep promise of extremely accommodative policy
Services inflation must fall: Bank’s Sentance
BoE rate-setter Andrew Sentance says spike in goods inflation is increasing pressure for services inflation to be controlled
NY Fed misrepresented French AIG position: Tarp overseer
Tarp overseer Neil Barofsky says Commission Bancaire would have helped secure haircuts from French counterparties of American International Group; comments contradict earlier claim by New York Fed
Labour shifts and productivity analysed
Bank of Canada paper finds that while overall labour reallocation has picked up, movement between jobs in the same industry, which causes increases in productivity, has declined
Geithner passes buck on AIG
Treasury Secretary says he did not make the decision to pay American International Group’s biggest counterparties 100 cents on the dollar
IIF sees sharp rise in emerging-market capital flows
Significant about-turn sees anticipated flows leap above 2008 figures; pick-up most marked in emerging Europe
IMF warns against Japanese complacency
International Monetary Fund report says Japan will face a harder task in convincing markets it can manage high debt levels in future
Turkey warns of risk from higher commodity prices
The Central Bank of Turkey flags dangers presented by rise in commodity prices
Iceland cuts by 50 bp as króna stands ground
Unexpected reduction leaves borrowing costs at 9.5%, central bank notes Icesave debacle failed to impact króna
Denmark names professor new economics head
University of Copenhagen’s Peter Birch Sørensen to move to the National Bank of Denmark in April
Keep the Fed away from politics: Dallas’s Fisher
Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher says allowing Congress to audit the Fed would be comparable to the governance crises of Weimar Germany and pre-Péron Argentina
Bank of Canada – Business Outlook Survey (winter 09/10)
Canadian firms expected both their costs and the prices they charged to increase over this year, signalling an end to the slump in demand
IMF more upbeat on growth
Global economy now set to expand by 3.9% this year, according to World Economic Outlook Update
SARB split over rate hold
Majority opt to hold rates at 7%, governor discusses inflation-targeting review