Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
Brazil's new payment system delayed to Jan 2002
BRAZIL - The Brazilian central bank late on Apr 11 said it delayed the implementation of the country's new system for payments for the banking sector to January 2002, to allow for more testing.
Thai central bank demands forex exposure details
THAILAND - The Bank of Thailand has issued a circular telling banks to provide details on their foreign debt exposure and repayment obligations when they buy dollars from local commercial banks.
RBA supervises credit card payment systems
AUSTRALA - The Reserve Bank of Australia took supervisory control of Australian credit card service fees on Apr 12, putting under threat A$600 million in fees the banks earn from Bankcard, MasterCard and VISA schemes.
Egypt cbank cuts rates for first time in 28 months
EGYPT - Egypt's Central Bank on Apr 12 cut its discount rate to 11.5 percent from 12 percent in a move welcomed by market operators, but which some analysts feared would do too little to boost the sluggish economy.
US economy appears to be stabilizing-Fed's Hoenig
UNITED STATES - The U.S. economy is showing signs of stabilizing and will likely pick up speed in the second half of 2001, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said on Apr 12.
Trichet says ECB immune to rate cut pressures
FRANCE - The European Central Bank will not and should not be influenced by outside pressures for a cut in interest rates, Bank of France Governor Jean-Claude Trichet said on Apr 12, 2001.
BOJ leaves monetary policy unchanged
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan's policy board voted unanimously to keep its current policy unchanged at its first two-day policy board meeting that ended Apr 13, 2001.
International Finance
BOOK - A new two-volume book on "International Finance" edited by Robert Aliber, Professor of International Economics at the University of Chicago has just been published.It collects together a number of significant papers by leading scholars in the…
Stock mkt performance of the Belgium central bank
ARTICLE - Lawrence Goldberg from the University of Miami and Rezaul Kabir from University of Tilburg have written an article "The Stock Market Performance of the Central Bank of Belgium". The purpose of this paper is to examine the stock market valuation…
Fed spied on employee's emails-investigator
UNITED STATES - An investigator looking into an unusual labour dispute at the Federal Reserve Board has found credible evidence that Fed managers snooped on the e-mail correspondence of an office secretary and fired her when she considered starting a…
Parliament re-elects BNB vice governor
BULGARIA - The Bulgarian parliament reelected Emilia Milanova as vice governor of the central bank in charge of banking supervision.
Chile cbank cuts key rate for fourth time in 2001
CHILE - Chile's central bank said on Apr 10 it cut its overnight lending rate by 25 basis points to an annualized, inflation-adjusted 3.75 percent, marking its fourth cut in 2001, citing lagging domestic demand and slow world economic growth.
US Fed decision are 'market driven'-Tietmeyer
UNITED STATES - The US Federal Reserve must take care not to allow its policy decisions to be market driven, former Bundesbank president Hans Tietmeyer told the Apr 12 edition of German financial magazine Focus Money, according to an early release of the…
Latvian central bank tells govt to cut deficit
LATVIA - The Latvian central bank said on Apr 11 that the government should use an expected economic expansion to cut the 2001 budget deficit, instead of amending its spending plans which will increase the gap between revenue and expenditure.
SNB sells another five tons of gold
SWITZERLAND - The Swiss National Bank sold 5.33 metric tons of gold in the latest 10-day reporting period ended April 10, according to SNB statistics released Apr 13.
Icelandic April inflation higher than forecasts
ICELAND - Iceland's consumer price index rose 1.2 percent in Apr 2001 to stand 4.5 percent higher than a year earlier, the national statistics office Statice said on Apr 11.
Nigeria's central bank devalues currency naira
NIGERIA - The Central Bank of Nigeria has devalued the country's currency naira by 1.8% following an unprecedented high demand for foreign exchange at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market, Nigerian newspapers reported on Apr 11.
Eichel sets out vision for financial regulation
GERMANY - The German finance ministry unveiled on Apr 11 draft legislation to shake up the structure of the country's central bank and supervisory agencies in response to the arrival of the euro and changes in financial markets.
World Bank releases gloomy econ outlook for Japan
JAPAN - Japan's economy has reverted to its anaemic state and is now at higher risk of falling into recession in earnest, the World Bank said in a report on the global economy released Apr 10.
Getting to the heart of central bank indecisivenes
ARTICLE - A letter published in the Financial Times on Apr 11 comments on an article published in the FT on Apr 10 "Avoiding interest rate surprises" which gave a personal view by European member of parliament Sir Christopher Huhne.
Ex-Yugo states agree on division of gold reserves
YUGOSLAVIA - The five states that emerged from ex-Yugoslavia have agreed on the division of gold assets worth some $477 million, Yugoslavia's central bank governor said on Apr 11.
Finance minister McCreevy defends Irish budget
IRELAND - Ireland's Finance Minister, Charlie McCreevy, whose budget was singled out for a reprimand by the European Commission, said in front of euro MPs that he was "amused" by the criticism, especially as other member states had debt to GDP ratios…
ECB keep rates at 4.75%, despite pressure
EUROPE - The European Central Bank on Apr 11 maintained interest rates at 4.75% because of inflationary pressures in the eurozone, but the central bank acknowledged that risks on the downside remained.
ECB's anti-fraud committee-annual report
REPORT - The ECB has published the annual report of its anti-fraud committee, which is chaired by Mr. Justice John Murray. The committee concludes "it has not found any cause for concern with the functioning of the established internal control structure…