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RBA cuts official cash rate by 25 bps to 5.50%
The Reserve Bank of Australia announced on Mar 7, 2001 it had cut the official cash rate target to 5.50 per cent, from 5.75 per cent, but was criticised for past policy mistakes by the prime minister.
Japan foreign reserves fall in Feb on weak euro
Japan's foreign reserves, the largest in the world, fell in Feb 2001 for the first time in six months, hit in part by a decline in the euro, a Finance Ministry (MOF) official said on Mar 7.
Russia cbank says too soon to ease forex sale rule
Russian Central Bank Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko said in an interview published on Mar 7, 2001 that it was too early to reduce the percentage of foreign currency receipts that Russian exporters are required to sell in exchange for roubles.
Berlin cbank president opposes ECB rate cut-paper
The European Central Bank shouldn't move to cut interest rates before euro-zone inflation reaches 2.2%, Landeszentralbank president Klaus-Dieter Kuehbacher said in an interview.
Yen crashes to 20-month lows against dollar
The yen fell beyond 120 to the dollar for the first time in 20 months on Mar 7, 2001 as expectation grew that Japan would tolerate a weaker yen to bolster its flagging economy.
Joint euro steering group to tackle counterfeiters
The European Central Bank, European Commission and Europol on Mar 7, 2001 said they had jointly developed an action plan to combat would-be euro cash counterfeiters.
Gemany's Hans Eichel's shock to the system-article
The decision of Hans Eichel, the German finance minister, to establish a unifiedfinancial services regulator came as a surprise to many, and a bitter shock to theBundesbank, which had lobbied to take over bank supervision itself. KlausEngelen reports.
Interview: Walter Shipley
Walter Shipley, recently retired chairman of Chase Manhattan/J.P Morgan, has justchaired a working group on public disclosure aimed at investigating howdisclosure by large US banks and securities firms could be improved. He spoketo Central Banking's…
The heavy hand of the SEC-Ed Waitzer
The SEC has concluded its campaign to stop auditors undertaking consultingwork for clients. Despite the cease-fire, the "rancorous, wasteful and damaging"fight has alienated the profession and undermined self-regulation, for littlediscernible benefit,…
Does Europe want a single market?-Malcolm Levitt
The shortcomings of Europe's single market for financial services extend farbeyond securities markets. Consumers lose, and politicians seem to lack thestomach for reform. Radical change, including the swift adoption of AlexandreLamfalussy's…
BI vows to prevent rupiah breaking 10000 level
Bank Indonesia will take action to protect the rupiah from breaking through the Rp 10,000 level against the U.S. dollar, the central bank's governor Sjahril Sabirin said on Mar 6.
Standards assessment puts pressure on IMF budget
The IMF's new role assessing how well member countries meet standards fordata dissemination, monetary and fiscal transparency, and bankingsupervision is starting to put pressure on the Fund's budget according to aself-evaluation released by the Fund on…
Central Bank of Iceland Q1 monetary bulletin
The Central Bank of Iceland published it quarterly Monetary Bulletin on Mar 6, 2001. There is an overview of economic developments in Iceland and the measures taken to slow the economy. There is also an article by chief economist Mar Gudmundsson on…
Dollar-Korean won spot rates swayed by forwards
The dollar's movement against the won in the Seoul currency market is being increasingly affected by dollar-won trading on overseas non-deliverable forward (NDF) markets, the Bank of Korea said.
CNB Board members backed Feb 22 rate cut by 6-1
Six members of the CNB Board voted in favour of the cut in the two-week repo rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5 pct, and one member was in favour of leaving rates at their current level, according to the minutes of the CNB Board meeting held on Feb 22…
Kazakh cbank says lower taxes boon for economy
Kazakhstan's central bank on Mar 6, 2001 welcomed an order by the president to cut key taxes and said this was likely to slash inflation, boost bank loans to the economy and help sustain the Central Asian state's growth.
S.Africa still unaware of new MPC policy-Mboweni
South African markets are still not fully aware of the fact that the central bank has introduced a new monetary policy regime which focuses on inflation targetting, central bank governor Tito Mboweni said.
EU committee on Lamfalussy report want 'call back'
The EU's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Mar 6, 2001 adopted a motion for a resolution on the Lamfalussy report on securities regulation, which will be submitted to a vote in plenary session in Strasbourg on Mar 14.
Bank of Canada cuts key rate to 5.25 pct from 5.75
The Bank of Canada on Mar 6, 2001 cut the bellwether bank rate to 5.25 percent from 5.75 percent,and the overnight rate to 5.0 percent from 5.5 percent, saying weakening confidence could delay the economy's recovery in the United States and damage Canada…
Sjahril, Akbar discuss reshuffle at Bank Indonesia
Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin plans to meet Speaker of the House of Representatives Akbar Tandjung on Mar 6, 2001 to discuss the list of candidates proposed to replace deputy governors Achwan and Dono Iskandar.
Greenspan celebrating 75th birthday on March 6
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, celebrates his 75th birthday on Mar 6, 2001, having served thirteen and a half years at the top of the US central bank.
Impact of macro news announcements on exch rates
Andrew Clare and Roger Courtenay from the Bank of England have written an interesting paper titled "Assessing the impact of macroeconomic news announcements on securities prices under different monetary policy regimes". The study investigates whether the…
Emoney and central banking- International Finance
The academic journal International Finance edited by Benn Steil has a special feature about whether information technology and electronic money will mean the end of central banking. Authors include Charles Goodhart and Michael Woodford. Also in the issue…
Financial crises in emerging markets-NY Fed paper
Terrence J. Checki and Ernest Stern from the New York Fed have written a paper "Financial Crises in the Emerging Markets: The Roles of the Public and Private Sectors" in Current Issues in Economics and Finance. This article examines some of the key…