Monetary Policy
China & S Korea sign $2bn currency swap deal
CHINA - The central banks of China and the Republic of Korea Monday signed a $2 billion currency swap deal which both sides hailed as a move to enhance bilateral co-operation and regional financial stability.
Aldo Pignanelli named new Argentine cb president
ARGENTINA - Argentina's President Eduardo Duhalde has appointed central bank vice-president Aldo Pignanelli as chairman of the bank after Mario Blejer resigned on Friday, the government said in a statement. Pignanelli has been vice-president since March…
Eurosystem currency reserves up by 1.3bn eur
GERMANY - The ECB said eurosystem net foreign currency reserves rose 1.3bn eur to 257.6bn in the week ending June 21. The rise was due to an increase of 3.7bn eur in receivables from the IMF, whereas other holdings in foreign currency decreased by 2.5bn…
BOJ intervenes to shore up dollar
JAPAN - The Bank of Japan stepped into the foreign exchange market Monday to shore up the dollar, which at one point rose by more than 1 yen to 122.80. The dollar later returned to the 121 yen level, as the invervention was seen as relatively modest. The…
Speech by David Dodge of Bank of Canada, 11 Jun
SPEECH - In a speech titled 'Trust, Transparency, and Financial Markets' Dodge told an audience in Nova Scotia that the Canadian economy's strong performance thus far in 2002 has exceeded the Bank's own forecasts.
Speech by Robert Parry, San Francisco Fed, 17 Jun
SPEECH - Parry said in a speech titled 'After the Recession: A Monetary Policymaker Looks Ahead' that "we're now in the midst of a modest expansion," after a shallow recession which probably ended in December or January.
When will MPC act?
LETTER - Letter published in the London Financial Times on 21 June from Stephen Walkley.
A group too big for intense monetary policy debate
LETTER - Letter published in the London Financial Times on 21 June from Michael Davenport.
Political pointers
LETTER - Letter published in the London Financial Times on 24 June from Maurice Fitzpatrick.
Is it too early to call an end to deflation?
ARTICLE - Prices have stopped falling and the balance of Bank of Japan banknotes circulating in the market is on a sharp rise. So is it too early to worry about the possibility of inflation asks the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on Monday.
Geneva meet to debate Islamic mortgages
UK - A Bank of England working party, which includes representatives of commercial banks and the Treasury, is investigating the wider introduction of Shari'ah compliant house mortgages in the UK, according to the UK's Observer newspaper.
US economy - Explaining outlook is Fed's challenge
FEATURE - Federal Reserve officials meet Tuesday and Wednesday to accomplish two tasks: to set the course of interest rates and outline a view on the U.S. economy.
South Korean c bank considering currency exchange
SOUTH KOREA - The South Korean central bank said Friday that it is preparing for the matter of converting South and North Korean won ready for eventual Korean unification.
Does a floating currency buy flexibility?
RESEARCH - ECB WORKING PAPER by Marcel Fratzscher, June 2002"The Euro bloc, the Dollar bloc and the Yen bloc: how much monetary policy independence can exchange rate flexibility buy in an interdependent world?"(ECB Working Paper No. 154), (pdf 416 kB).
ECB sounds the alarm
ECB - The prospect of fudging the EU stability pact, which stipulates a 3% budget deficit ceiling for national governments, drew criticism from ECB officials on Thursday.
Canada- outspoken board member not re-appointed
CANADA - Raymond Garneau, a former Quebec Liberal finance minister, has not been reappointed to the the board of the Bank of Canada after he publicly called for Prime Minister Jean Chretien to resign.
Cabinet reduces number on board at CB of China
TAIWAN - The board of directors, which is responsible responsible for monetary policy at the Central Bank of China, is to be reduced to seven from the current 15 people according to a draft bill passed by the cabinet on Thursday.
Uruguay floats the peso
URUGUAY- The currency band system for the peso was brought to an abrupt end amid fears of contagion from the crisis in Argentina and market woes in Brazil. The central bank said there would be only limited intervention to prop up the currency.
Australian reserves on the up
AUSTRALIA - The Reserve Bank took advantage of the local dollar's strength against the greenback last month to sell a net $170 million in local currency on the spot market and add to its foreign exchange reserves.
Speech by Robert Parry, San Francisco Fed, 6 Jun
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'After the Recession: A Monetary Policymaker Looks Ahead' Parry said that once the expansion takes hold interest rates will have to move up to prevent a build up of inflationary pressures but that for now the approach can be…
Speech by K Persson of Sveriges Riksbank, 11 Jun
SPEECH - Persson said in a speech titled 'The economic situation in a monetary policy perspective' that Sweden's participation in the euro would have various advantages for the economy but acknowledged the disadvantage of a loss of self determination in…
RBA Bulletin, June 2002
REPORT - The Reserve Bank of Australia on Thursday published the June 2002 issue of its Bulletin.
A flawed independence
ARTICLE - Treasury interference could stop the Bank of England mitigating the effects of inflationary shocks, says Christopher Huhne in an article in Thursday's London edition of the Financial Times.
European Central Bank Working Paper
RESEARCH - G-7 Inflation forecasts by Fabio Canova, June 2002.