News
Bank Indonesia officials to be suspects over loans
Senior Indonesian central bank officials will soon be named suspects over the handing out of huge loans to struggling banks in the late 1990s, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on Feb 9, 2001."In the next one or two weeks, there will be senior…
BIS to host 17 cbank officials in HK Feb 12
The Bank for International Settlements plans to host officials of 17 central banks in Hong Kong on Feb 12, 2001. An official of the Basel-based institution said the central bankers will discuss both the global economy and the strengthening of financial…
Buba Stark-EU fin min council should censure Irish
Ireland should be censured by the full council of European Union finance ministers, for not adhering to its commitment to tighter fiscal policy, Deutsche Bundesbank Vice President Juergen Stark said on Feb. 9, according to German newspaper Boersen…
Greek cbank says no sales of euros to restructure
Greece's central bank said on Feb. 9, 2001 that it had not been selling euros as part of a restructuring of its foreign reserves but that some payment in foreign exchange had been made on behalf of the Greek government. "All these rumours that the Bank…
No need to reform BoF advisory mon policy council
There is no need to reform the Monetary Policy Council (MPC) of the Bank of France, which advises Governor Jean-Claude Trichet, according to Raymond Douyere, a former Socialist Party parliamentarian appointed to the nine-member MPC in 2000. "Abolishing…
US plan to widen euro debt holding is logical-ECB
The European Central Bank said on Feb 9, 2001 plans by the U.S. monetary authorities to widen their holdings of government securities in the euro zone to include countries other than Germany were a logical step following the arrival of the euro. "This is…
Russia Duma ratifies single currency with Belarus
The Russia State Duma budget committee on Feb 9, 2001 decided to recommend that the lower house of parliament ratify the agreement between Russia and Belarus on the introduction of a single currency and on setting up a single monetary emissions center…
China's cbank sets rules for fines and penalties
China's central bank has set new rules specifying the kinds of penalties it can assess, in a bid to standardize its regulatory practices, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Feb 9, 2001. The People's Bank of China rules specify the sizes of fines…
G20 cbank deputies meet in Istanbul Feb 18-19
The meeting of G-20 international group of Deputy Finance Ministers and Central Bank Deputy Governors will be held in Istanbul between February 18-19, 2001. Treasury Undersecreatriat said on Feb. 9 that the meeting aimed to prepare the ground for the…
Ex-head Bulgarian cbanker charged with fraud
Stoyan Shoukerov, former head of the Foreign Exchange Operations Department of the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB), has been charged with abuse of office in connection with the refinancing of commercial banks with 49 million dollars, the Special…
Argentina to monitor banks amid laundering claims
The Argentine government said on Feb 9, 2001 it had set up a commission to monitor the country's banks in response to a U.S. congressional probe into the role of U.S. banks in laundering dirty money from drug dealing, corruption and organized crime. The…
Thai Chatu Mongol dismisses Cabinet rumours
Thailand's central bank chief Chatu Mongol Sonakul Feb 9, 2001 said the purpose of his meeting on Feb 7 with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was to discuss the future of the indebted bank rescue fund and not his possible appointment as finance minister…
ADB appoints new chief economist
The Asian Development Bank has appointed Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics at Maryland University in the United States, as Chief Economist. Professor Panagariya will take up the position in early April 2001.
Bank of Israel's Fiszman moves to monetary dept
Mr. Gabriel Fiszman was appointed Assistant Director of the Monetary Department at the Bank of Israel on Feb 8. Mr Fiszman has previously been an adviser to the governor, David Klein, and the head of external relations and spokesperson. In his new post,…
Bank of England cuts rates by 0.25%
The Bank of England has cut its key UK interest rate by 0.25% to 5.75%. It is the first cut for nearly two years. The decision, announced at noon in London on Feb 8, 2001, followed the latest two day monthly meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary…
Buba's Stark says ECB should meet less often
The European Central Bank should hold council meetings once a month rather than every two weeks, Bundesbank Vice President Juergen Stark said in remarks published on Feb 8, 2001. Stark, who is not a member of the ECB's council and has no say in ECB…
Yemen foreign reserves at record high-central bank
Yemen's foreign reserves have hit $3 billion, the highest level in the poor Arab state's history, the central bank governor said in remarks published on Feb 8, 2001. "The central bank's reserves as of the beginning of 2001 reached around $3 billion and…
Nigerian cbank announces new investment instrument
Nigerian Central Bank announced on Feb. 8, 2001 a new long-tenor money market investment instrument to expand the West African country's financial market. The bank said in a statement the new instrument, known as "CBN Certificates", would be available in…
Russian c.bank reserves set post-Soviet record
Russia's foreign currency and gold reserves have hit a new post-Soviet high of $29.5 billion after rising almost one billion dollars in the week to Feb. 2, the central bank said on Feb. 8, 2001. The bank said reserves had risen to the new level from $28…
BOJ Hayami-econ not at risk of deflationary spiral
Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said Feb. 8 the central bank will stick to its current easy monetary policy to support the economy, but added that the bank would watch carefully for any sign of an economic slowdown. "The BOJ is willing to keep its…
Taiwan's forex reserves up to $108.05bn in Jan '01
Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves at the end of January 2001 totalled US$108.05 billion, the first rally in seven months, statistics released on Feb. 7 by the Central Bank of China (CBC) showed. The CBC statistics revealed that the amount of Taiwan's…
Bank of Korea reduces short-term rate to 5%
The Bank of Korea lowered on Feb. 8, 2001 its key short-term-rate target by a quarter point, signaling the need to bolster the sagging economy had overtaken previous concerns about inflationary pressures. The central bank's monetary policy committee cut…
Tanzania's Dec annual inflation drops to 5.5 pct
Tanzania's overall annual inflation rate eased to 5.5 percent in the year to December 2000 from 5.7 percent in November, helped by a marginal drop in food prices, the central bank said on Feb 8, 2001.Food prices account for at least 70 percent of the…
IMF reviews Pakistan performance for standby loan
Pakistan began talks with an International Monetary Fund mission on Feb. 8, 2001 keen to convince it that a revenue shortfall should not prevent payment of a second tranche of a standby loan, officials and analysts said. Analysts said the mission, led by…