Central Banking staff
Follow Central Banking
Articles by Central Banking staff
Back From The Brink: The Greenspan Years
Journalist Steven Beckner, who has covered monetary policy since the beginning of the Greenspan years, has written a useful book that goes beyond the regular elliptical utterances of the Fed chairman. Reviewed by Kevin L. Kliesen, Economist, Federal…
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of LTCM
This new book by Roger Lowenstein about Long-Term Capital Management suggests that the lenders were clueless as to the nature of the LTCM's assets and strategies and equally ignorant as to LTCM's total indebtedness. Rather, the banks relied on the brand…
Interview with Nancy Stokey - The Region
Nancy Stokey and her University of Chicago colleague and partner, Nobel Laureate Robert E. Lucas Jr., chose to spend a semester's sabbatical at the Minneapolis Fed this autumn. Arthur Rolnick, the Minneapolis Fed's director of Research, took this…
BoE warns on telecoms debt
The Bank of England has joined the UK's financial regulators in warning banks of the risk of heavy lending to telecoms companies.
New EU treaty paves way for ECB voting change
The European Union's Nice treaty calls for a review of how votes are taken on the ECB's governing council, but does not provide for amending its composition, a draft text obtained by journalists on Wednesday said.
ECB keeps M3 benchmark unchanged
The European Central Bank has decided to leave its yardstick for euro area money supply growth unchanged. After the governing council meeting today, the ECB said that the evidence continues to support the assumptions underlying the derivation of the…
Complete glossary of payment systems terminology
The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems at the Bank for International Settlements has just published a comprehensive glossary of payment system terminology as a reference document for the standard terms used in connection with payment and…
BoE article on oversight of payment systems
The Bank of England's paper on the oversight of payment systems is published in its latest Financial Stability Review.
China intensifying supervision of foreign banks
People's Bank of China, China's central bank, is stepping up the regulation of foreign-invested banks management.
Banco do Brasil accumulates a profit of R$919.4m
Banco do Brasil, the Brazilian central bank, accumulated a net profit of R$59.8m in November, down from R$94.7m during the same month in 1999. However, accumulated profits for the first eleven months of 2000 stand at R$919.4m, up on the consolidated…
Uganda govt approves Mutebile as new bank governor
The Ugandan parliamentary committee on appointments yesterday approved the nomination of Mr. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile as the new Bank of Uganda governor.
Duisenberg comments on Greek EMU entry
European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg made the following comments at a news conference on Thursday concerning Greece's entry into the eurozone: "It is indeed an historic moment and a very satisfying and gratifying moment."
Uganda cenbank says to tighten monetary policy
Uganda's central bank on Thursday announced a rise in commercial bank reserve requirements from next week in a bid to stem inflationary pressures from the weakening shilling.
ECB Vanhala says Eurozone inflation close to peak
European Central Bank governing council member Matti Vanhala on Thursday reiterated that the euro zone was close to its inflation peak but said the risks to price stability were still "upwards".
Lebanon considers changes to money laundering bill
The Lebanese Cabinet discussed a draft law to counter money-laundering on Wednesday but shelved the issue for a future meeting after some ministers proposed changes to the proposal.
IMF warns of deepening economic crisis in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe faces a "deepening" economic crisis unless the government reverses its missteps of the past two years by cutting back on defense and public sector wages, the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday.
China WTO to boost HK banks, GDP growth - HKMA
China's looming entry into the World Trade Organisation will boost financial services and raise Hong Kong gross domestic product growth by upto 1%, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory's de facto central bank.
IMF X-rays Romanian economy
Romania's progress in reaching stability and continuing reforms is important but insufficient compared with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a report of the International Monetary Fund about Romania's economic evolution over the last two…
Lebanon Salameh sees great potential in economy
Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh says he believes that the economy could see healthy growth next year if the country does not suffer from increased regional instability.
IMF back in Croatia for stand-by talks, cbank says
An International Monetary Fund mission has returned to Croatia to resume talks over the next week on a stand-by arrangement, the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hungary forint regime may change, says minister
Hungary's foreign exchange regime, built around a 4.5% wide flotation band and a crawling peg devaluation, may change next year, finance minister designate Mihaly Varga said on Wednesday.
Czech Vaclav Klaus and CNB Tuma fail to agree
Czech opposition Civic Democratic Party leader Vaclav Klaus and central bank governor Zdenek Tuma today failed to reach agreement on the method of CNB's communicating with other state bodies, Klaus told journalists after the meeting.
Strong growth unlikely soon,despite signs-CNB Tuma
Czech National Bank governor Zdenek Tuma said Wednesday that although the economy has exhibited many positive signs in the past year, strong growth is unlikely in the near term.
Mercosur sets macroeconomic convergence targets
The Southern Cone Common Market, or Mercosur, on Wednesday announced macroeconomic convergence targets, including fiscal and inflationary goals, top officials said.