Central Banks
Sylvia Piterman leaves Bank of Israel
Sylvia Piterman, who has worked at the Bank of Israel for over 25 years,and almost 10 of those years as Director of the Foreign CurrencyDepartment, will be leaving the bank in the very near future. Following herdeparture Mr. Barry Topf will become Acting…
Japanese interest rates held at 0.25%
At the Monetary Policy Meeting held Jan 19, the Bank of Japan decided, by majority vote, to maintain the uncollateralized overnight call rate at an average of around 0.25%.
Mexican cbank governor outlines monetary policy
The governor of the Bank of Mexico, Guillermo Ortiz Martinez, has submitted a preview of the Monetary Policy Programme for 2001 and has confirmed an aggressive tightening of the money supply by managing short-term benchmark interest rates and bank…
Venezuela: Crawling pegged rate system retained
According to a Venezuela Online News web site on Jan. 17, the Central Bank of Venezeula (BCV) has indicated that it will maintain the band system in currency exchange in order to control the depreciation of the bolivar. The bolivar will thus remain…
Core principles for payment systems up for comment
The final reports on the CPSS "Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems" and the joint CPSS/IOSCO consultative report on the "Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems" have now been published. Both reports are available on the…
Japan's RTGS to go live Jan 4 as planned
The Bank of Japan said Jan 2 it would launch its new real-time gross settlement system for bond and money market trading on Thursday, as planned. The BOJ made the announcement after earlier conducting a last-minute systems test to make sure all…
China central bank researchers urge wide yuan band
Researchers at China's central bank are urging a sharply wider trading range for the yuan of 10 to 15 percent up or down, the first time anyone connected to the bank has offered a specific band width for the Chinese currency.
Paraguay inflation ends 2000 at 8.6 pct
Paraguay achieved its goal of posting single-digit inflation for the second year in a row as the consumer price index ended 2000 at 8.6 percent, the Central Bank said Dec 29, 2000.
Euro recovery likely to continue, says ECB
European Central Bank President Mr Wim Duisenberg reaffirmed Dec 29 that ECB interest rates were on hold for some time and said the euro's recovery was likely to continue. Mr Duisenberg said that the risks to price stability were not very "concrete" at…
Ecuador inflation slows in Dec 2000 to 2.5 pct
Ecuador's consumer price inflation slowed to 2.5 percent in December 2000 compared with 5.6 percent a year earlier, the Institute of Statistics (INEC) said on Dec 29.
Venezuela president sees fixed rate for bolivar
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez predicted the country's currency, the bolivar, will be fixed against the dollar some time in the future, according to a report Dec 29 in local daily El Universal.
Brazil Central Bank sees 2001 inflation below 4%
Brazil's key IPCA inflation index will end 2001 below the government's target of four percent, the country's central bank said in its quarterly inflation report released on Dec 29.
Central Bank of Nigeria held 224 clearing sessions
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Kano has this year held 224 clearing sessions, during which 275,681 instruments valued at about N181 billion were cleared, the CBN Kano branch controller, Mr. Okun Folami, has said.
U.S. slowdown to hit Britain-BoE's George
Bank of England governor Eddie George has warned that fallout from an economic slowdown in the United States will affect Britain in 2001 but will not bring a "nightmare scenario", the BBC said on Dec. 29, 2000.
Asean members sign new swap agreement
The 10 Asean members signed a new Asean Swap Arrangement (ASA) in November, providing a total of US$1 billion of financial support, said Bank Negara Malaysia in a statement on Dec 29, 2000.
US in economic slowdown but far from recession-IMF
The International Monetary Fund has said that the United States is facing a slowdown in growth that will curb the global economic expansion. But the US economy is far from a recession and is nowhere near contracting, added the IMF's first deputy managing…
Philippine c.bank to tap its forex reserves
The Philippine Central Bank said it will tap its foreign-exchange reserves to pay maturing obligations in the first half of 2001. At the same time, the central bank said it will postpone indefinitely a plan to borrow funds from a group of local and…
Bank of Israel cuts interest rates by 0.2%
The Bank of Israel lowered its key lending rate for January by a moderate 0.2 percent to 8% Dec 28, in line with economists' expectations. This is the lowest interest rate in a decade.
BCEAO calls for diversification of production base
The board of directors of the Central Bank of West African States or BCEAO has urged member states to further diversify their production bases, accelerate integration and the implementation of common sector policies within member countries.