Opinion

Gold and foreign exchange reserves

According to the article "What percentage should gold in foreign exchange reserves be?" published Monday 20 March, currencies have a poor history and it is infinitely wise to protect against the worst possible eventuality.

Comment: Park Seung's term expires

Lee Seong-tae is likely to be confirmed as the new governor of the Bank of Korea next week. The incumbent governor, Park Seung, leaves the central bank calling for more independence from the government for his successor.

Money, sex, happiness come to the Bank of England

It was announced this week that David Blanchflower will replace Stephen Nickell on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from 1 June. This article published on Friday 24 March looks at a research paper Blanchflower co-authored.

Interview with Bank Indonesia's Gultom

In an interview published Friday 24 March, Bank Indonesia's senior deputy governor Miranda Gultom said the central bank plans to encourage an expansion of Islamic Shariah financing to boost the development of the country's small- and medium-sized…

CBN Comment on UK Budget

Three little-noticed items from the budget delivered March 22 by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, will be of interest to central banks and market regulators.

Bernanke qualifies message in the yield curve

According to this article published Wednesday 22 March, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke would not have been pleased with the press reports which followed his address to the Economic Club of New York on Monday night.

G. William Miller led Fed in Carter years

According to this obituary published on Monday 20 March, former Federal Reserve chairman G. William Miller helped transform textiles company Textron Inc. into a global force, and was also active in civic life and political organisations.

Comment: Relaxing capital constraints

Indian policymakers surprised analysts and market participants alike this week by announcing their intention to ease capital restrictions and make the rupee fully convertible. The Indian experience with capital and exchange rate liberalisation bears some…

Warsh, youngest-ever Fed governor

According to the article "Warsh, youngest-ever Fed governor, is also one of the richest" published Friday 17 March, Kevin Warsh, and his wife, an heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, have at least $65.3 million in assets.

Comment: Governance and modernisation

A new IMF working paper argues that giving central banks more independence is a powerful way of enhancing corporate governance in these institutions. Although the paper's rigorous empirical approach may help to confirm this uncontroversial insight, its…

Comment: The benefits of supervisory integration

A new IMF working paper investigates the trend toward integrating the regulation and supervision of banks, non-bank financial institutions and securities markets. The authors attempt to fill a gap in the literature by empirically assessing the impact…

Bet on the Fed pausing at 5 percent

Federal Reserve officials seem more likely to pause in raising their target for the overnight lending rate when it reaches 5 percent than to push it up to 5.5 percent, according to this article published Wednesday 15 March.

Interview with Malta's Bonello

In a recent interview, Michael C Bonello, governor of the Central Bank of Malta, talks about the challenges faced by the Maltese economy ahead of euro adoption and their implications for monetary policy.

Comment: The Fed's 'asymmetric policy'

Donald Kohn said yesterday that the perception that the Fed responds asymmetrically to asset prices is "a misreading of history". Not only has the idea of a 'Greenspan put' been debunked by the experiences of the last five years, but it is also…

Comment: Yellen's 'long-run' inflation target

San Francisco Fed president, Janet Yellen, who has emerged as one of Ben Bernanke's strongest allies in the inflation targeting debate at the Fed, provided further insights into what she regards as the optimal design of such a framework in a speech on…

Excess liquidity clinches case for ECB rate rises

According to this recent article, several factors, including a lack of dissenting voices on the ECB Governing Council, have persuaded financial markets in recent days that the ECB is heading faster than previously expected toward an interest rate of 3…

Comment: Serdengecti ousted

The governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, Sureyya Serdengecti's, five year term expired on Tuesday, 14 March and he will not be reappointed. The government is yet to name a replacement, but vice governor, Erdem Basci, appears the most likely candidate.

Comment: Balcerowicz battles on

The president of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), Leszek Balcerowicz, and the ministry of finance are at loggerhead over a hotly debated bank merger. The government wants the deal blocked, Balcerowicz refuses to do so. Even as his first term draws to…

Comment: Unravelling the BoJ message

The Bank of Japan put an end to its "quantitative easing" policy last week. Although the timing was slightly ahead of expectations, the move itself was widely anticipated. Attention has now turned to unravelling the implications of the central bank's new…

Comment: Measuring financial fragility

Central banks and regulators have created well-staffed financial stability departments, producing voluminous reports and reviews. However, policymakers are not always sure what they are aiming at in this opaque, but systemically important, area. New…

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