Central bank

International Monetary Fund (the IMF) president Dominique Strauss - Kahn yesterday on the BBC that the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again conditional. He said that Japan and the United States in some of the world where interest rates have been lowered substantially, but in other parts of the world's interest rate can still be dropped. He believes that the current European Central Ba

The economy of South Africa, Africa's economic powerhouse, cannot be immune from the effects of the global financial financial market c risis, the central bank's monetary policy review committee said on Tuesday. "The volatile and uncertain financial market environment will continue to complicate monetary policy decision-making for some time," the committee said in its bi-annual report. The bank wi

A former governor of Indonesia's central bank was sentenced to five years' jail and fined IDR250 million ($23,500) for corruption on Wednesday.Burhanuddin Abdullah was found guilty in the anti-corruption court of embezzling $10.3 million in bank funds to bribe lawmakers and hire lawyers to defend bank officials facing corruption allegations."The defendant has been proved legally and convincingly t

SINGAPORE, Oct 28, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore's economy, which is already in a technical recession, will remain weak in 2009 on projections the global economic outlook will deteriorate further, the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

SINGAPORE, Oct 28, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore's economy, which is already in a technical recession, will remain weak in 2009 on projections the global economic outlook will deteriorate further, the central bank said Tuesday.As a financial crisis evolves to impact economic activity worldwide, the city-state is likely to be hammered given its heavy exposure to external demand, the Monetary Authority (MA

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand's share market rebounded Wednesday as the nation's central bank said it's ensuring good cash liquidity levels in the banking system, which remains sound amid... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

For the time being, the move by central banks to add $180 billion to the financial systems to improve liquidity at large banks and brokerages seems to be... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

US dollar supplies have increased at Vietnamese lenders, the State Bank of Viet Nam said in its weekly report on its website Friday. Supply of the US currency has improved since mid-July and is “starting to outstrip demand,” the central bank said, adding that it had “intervened (in the market) by buying” dollars to stabilize the dong exchange rate. Overnight interest rates were around 15

Indonesian consumer confidence rose in July after falling for eight straight months, indicating that less respondents expressed pessimism about current economic conditions and the economic outlook for Indonesia, according to a central bank survey released on Tuesday.A central bank survey of 4,600 households in 18 cities across Indonesia showed the consumer confidence index rose to 82.1 points in J

by Rep. Ron Paul The Latin term “fiat” roughly translates to “there shall be”. When we refer to fiat money, we are referring to money that exists because the government declares it into existence. It is not based on production or earnings, and not backed by any commodity. It is solely based on [...]

Vietnam’s central bank has told businesses to stop complaining about high interest rates because the sky-high rates were a side-effect of the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Vietnam's dong fell this week after the central bank allowed the currency to decline. The dong traded at 16,846.50 against the dollar as of 5:30 p.m.... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The State Bank of Viet Nam has asked its local branches to check the deposit interest rates now offered by credit institutions in the localities. The... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The central bank's latest move to put the black foreign exchange market under control has led traders in HCM City to take a wait-and-see attitude, thus arresting the strong rise of the US dollar against the dong. Almost all gold shops around the Ben Thanh market in downtown HCM City shook their head when asked whether they had any dollars to sell. The owner of Kim Hoan Viet gold shop, which is

Bonds rose for a second day on speculation inflation will slow as the central bank increased interest rates to 14% today. Yields are near the highest since at least July 2006 after the Southeast Asian country posted inflation at the fastest in 16 years. The Vietnamese central bank today announced to increase the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content

Viet Nam will keep its benchmark interest rate at 12% this month after raising it in May, the Southeast Asian nation's central bank said. The discount rate will also remain at 11%, while the refinance rate will stay at 13%, the State Bank of Viet Nam said in a statement posted on its Web site late yesterday. ``Two... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other cont

The Phillips curve model with expectations developed into a short and a long run version. In the short run the trade-off between unemployment and inflation exists, but in the long it doesn’t. According to this model although both monetary and fiscal policy commits to low inflation once private agents enter with expectations the authorities get [...]

Viet Nam's central bank said the dong's daily trading band is unchanged at plus or minus 1%, according to Le Xuan Nghia, director of the banking development strategy department. ``The trading band today is still plus or minus 1%,'' Nghia said in a telephone interview today from Hanoi. The State Bank of Viet Nam... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content,

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) should reduce reserve requirements for banks to help stabilize the stock market, the Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors said. Reserve requirements for commercial banks should be cut to 8% of deposits from 11% at present, the association said in a statement on its... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and mo

Banks boosted interest rates on Monday after the central bank abolished a 12-percent ceiling rate on dong deposits and raised three interest rates over the weekend to fight double-digit inflation. The cap was imposed in February to stabilise the market after banks started bidding aggressively for deposits following a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other co

The 12% deposit interest rate cap will be effectively dissolved tomorrow when the State Bank of Viet Nam increases its base interest rate from 8.75% to 12% per year. The state lender has decided not renew its 12% cap, allowing commercial banks to set their interest rates on both loans and deposits at up to 150% of the new benchmark rate, which means that banks could offer deposit interest rates

Nguyen Dai Lai, deputy director of central bank’s Banking Development Strategy Department, have given some proposals to support the stock market in a context of an unstable financial market. First, the government should issue long-term bonds with maturity of ten years or more and interest rates fixed in every two... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other cont

The deposit growth of the banking system in April was 1.2%, far lower than last month's 3.46% and 3.38% of the same period last year. The central bank has considered refinancing capital to some banks to assist their payment capacity. The slow growth of deposits in April in two financial centres of Hanoi and HCM City... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Vietnam’s dong fell after the central bank set a weaker reference rate for Friday’s trading. The State Bank of Vietnam set a rate of 15,970 a dollar, compared with 15,964 on April 29, according to its website. The currency is allowed to trade up to 1% on either side of that rate. The currency fell 0.02% to 16,125, extending this week’s losses to 0.04%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Viet Nam’s central bank will not change the benchmark interest rate because month-on-month increases in inflation show recent policy measures have been effective, according to Governor Nguyen Van Giau. Consumer prices in the Southeast Asian nation surged 21.4% this month from April 2007, the most since at least 1992,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Malaysia March CPI hit a 13-month high of 2.8% y/y as compared to a 2.7% rise in February, and slightly lower than the median f/c of 3.0%. S/adj, the CPI for March was unchanged from Feb. The increase in March prices was mainly due to steeper prices of food and nonalcoholic drinks, which rose 4.9% y/y, for alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices rose 9.0% y/y.Housing, water, electricity and fuels, which is the second-largest component in the CPI, rose a modest 1.3% y/y. Malaysian inflation has crept up since late last year but remains among the lowest in South East Asia, thanks largely to price controls on essential goods such as flour and cooking oil. Core inflation also looks reasonably stable on the month, at just over 2% thus allowing the central bank to leave rates unchanged at 3.5% ne

Central Bank of India net profit declined 56.72% to Rs 64.54 crore in the Qtr Ending Mar 2008 compared to Rs 149.13 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2007. Total operating income rose 26.22% to Rs 2240.28 crore in the Qtr Ending Mar 2008 compared to Rs 1774.91 crore during the previous [...]

Viet Nam's central bank has told Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) to slow its lending after imposing 30% cap on credit growth for the sector this year in an effort to control inflation at a 12 year high. The Ho Chi Minh City-based ACB, Viet Nam's fifth-largest lender by assets, should adjust its business plan... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

CURRENCY TRADING SUMMARY U.S. Dollar Trading (USD) strengthened against the major currencies overnight, joining the equity markets in shaking off last week’s soft U.S jobs data as news that America’s largest savings and loan bank, Washington Mutual, will be receiving a $5 billion capital injection from equity group TPG. Whilst acting like a shot of confidence in the market, U.S consumer credit rose by US$5.16 billion for the month of February. However, this was below the expected amount of US$5.5 billion so there may be indications the Federal Reserve’s drastic easing of monetary policy is beginning to flow through the economy. The NASDAQ lost 6 points (-0.3%) whilst the Dow Jones had a volatile day after being up 124 points at one stage, before closing 3 points up. Oil prices surged

Indonesia's parliament approved top economic minister Boediono as the nation's 13th central bank chief, as Southeast Asia's largest economy grapples with accelerating inflation and slowing growth.Boediono, 65, will succeed Burhanuddin Abdullah, whose five-year term expires on May 17. Boediono, the coordinating minister for the economy, was endorsed as the next governor in a vote by legislators, lawmaker Tjahyo Kumolo told reporters in Jakarta today.Boediono, who earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, will have to balance the risk of slowing growth with inflation at an 18-month high. As finance minister for three years to 2004, Boediono helped ease inflation by reducing money supply and the budget deficit. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is betting

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are open to the idea of using public money to bailout mortgage securities in order to help clean up the credit markets, according to the Financial Times. The Federal Reserve has already taken drastic steps in order to prevent more massive bank losses this year.

Viet Nam’s central bank said it plans to collect VND52.8 trillion (US$3.3 billion) of the state funds which are held at state-owned banks in order to rein inflation and reduce losses for the State budget. The State Treasury should send the funds, which were worth VND52.8 trillion as of end-2007, to the central bank’s coffers, the central bank said in a statement published by its website. Under

In his recent directive on measures to control inflation, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Finance to transfer the Treasury’s balance, now deposited at banks, to the State Bank of Vietnam for management. The Treasury’s bank balance, estimated at VND52,000bil, is now deposited at five state owned banks, and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The central bank on Thursday ordered all commercial banks to finish buying up compulsory treasury bills by next Monday’s end, a move that raised concerns about the payment capacity of banks. On Monday, the State Bank will issue VND20.3 trillion (US$1.28 billion) in treasury bills with a maturation of 364 days and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Viet Nam’s central bank may ask commercial lenders to reduce deposit rates to less than 12 percent, a local newspaper reported, citing Le Xuan Nghia, head of development strategy at the State Bank of Viet Nam. The central bank will try to stabilize deposit rates to help the government control inflation and companies... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Property prices in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi surged in the fourth quarter last year.The real estate market boil was then kicked up a notch when the central bank ordered local lenders to limit their loans against securities to fewer than 3 percent and doubled the reserve requirement rate.The move cut the stock market down to size as the benchmark VN-Index soon fell from 1,170 points on March 12, 2007 to 927 by the year’s end.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Thursday that the central bank is prepared to continue lowering interest rates in order to help keep the economy on track."We stand ready to take substantive additional action as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks," Bernanke said in prepared remarks before the Women in Housing and Finance and Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C.Stocks, which had been trading lower before the speech, rebounded on the news as Wall Street interpreted Bernanke's comments to mean that there is now an increased likelihood the Fed will lower its key federal funds rate by a half of a percentage point, to 3.75 percent, at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on January 30.To that end, investors are pricing in an 86

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Thursday that the central bank is prepared to continue lowering interest rates in order to help keep the economy on track. “We stand ready to take substantive additional action as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks,” Bernanke said in prepared remarks [...]

Iran has $8 billion in its Oil Stabilisation Fund (OSF), which forms part of the country's foreign reserves, the central bank's website quoted Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri as saying.Mazaheri said that on October 31 Iran had $9.56bn in the fund, but it was not immediately clear if the two figures were directly comparable.When calculating its holdings based on cash coming in and out of the fund, "the amount of money held in the OSF is $8bn," Mazaheri said, without specifying if this was a different method in estimating the fund's assets.The fund was set up several years ago to save windfall oil earnings at times like now when crude prices have surged to record levels, so that the extra cash could be use in times of need if prices tumbled or to finance investment projects.Some lawmakers have accused the government of the world's fourth largest oil producer of dipping into the fund to finance current spending even now and have complained that the fund's value should have risen faster giv

Iran has $8 billion in its Oil Stabilisation Fund (OSF), which forms part of the country's foreign reserves, the central bank's website quoted Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri as saying.Mazaheri said that on October 31 Iran had $9.56bn in the fund, but it was not immediately clear if the two figures were directly comparable.When calculating its holdings based on cash coming in and out of the fund, "the amount of money held in the OSF is $8bn," Mazaheri said, without specifying if this was a different method in estimating the fund's assets.The fund was set up several years ago to save windfall oil earnings at times like now when crude prices have surged to record levels, so that the extra cash could be use in times of need if prices tumbled or to finance investment projects.Some lawmakers have accused the government of the world's fourth largest oil producer of dipping into the fund to finance current spending even now and have complained that the fund's value should have risen faster giv

Related Post on MalaysiaKini: Race divide threatens economy, society Tired of Malaysian politics? Come and visit Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort anytime soon and have the fun of your life! Technorati Tags: economy, bank negara, inflation, malaysia, malaysiakini

ECB: October 4Members of the ECB’s monetary policy committee find themselves in an unenviable position with political pressure on the back of a rapidly rising euro, uncertainty about the euro zone economic outlook, credit market problems and rising euro zone inflation all in the mix, when the MPC sits down to deliberate on its monthly policy statement on October 4th. The only thing that seems certain is that the ECB will leave interest rates unchanged at 4% but markets will be listening closely to what the Bank’s President – Jean Claude Trichet has to say when he gives his press conference after the rate announcement. After the last meeting in September smart money was on one more rate hike before the end of the year, probably to come in December next. The ECB may still decide to signal such a likelihood this Thursday, in its pursuit of price stability (September is the first time inflation has risen above the ECB’s 2% comfort zone since August 2006 - a 2.1% preliminary inflati

From Sydney Morning HeraldTHE People's Bank of China has raised its economic growth forecast and says inflation will probably accelerate.The economy may expand 11.6 per cent this year, according to the report published in the China Securities Journal, faster than the agency's previous estimate of a 10.8 per cent expansion. Inflation this year will be 5 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent forecast previously, and the trade surplus will widen to about $US250 billion ($285 billion) this year from $US177.5 billion in 2006.The forecasts put pressure on the central bank's governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, to raise lending and deposit rates for the sixth time this year to cap surging asset prices and cool the overheating economy. On Thursday the bank raised interest rates on some home mortgages and increased minimum down payments in an effort to cool property price gains."It's clear they know they're behind the curve, in a hole, at risk of people taking more of their money out of bank deposits and go

(Source: Xinhua) BEIJING, Sept. 29 - The policy makers of China’s central bank said at their third quarterly meeting that the country should carry out “moderately tightening” monetary policies to further rein in credit growth. They said the central bank should coordinate the adjustments of interest rates and exchange rates and step up controls over the liquidity within the nation’s banking system to maintain “rational” growth of lending. The policy makers suggested a close watch on the potential impact of the U.S. subprime crisis to the Chinese financial market despite the nation’s economy being “generally stable”. Increasing inflationary risks and rising assets prices have added to the problems of excess investment growth and widening trade surplus, they said. The central bank should carry out studies on the problems to find a solution and “improve the quality of China’s economic gr

From AFPBEIJING (AFP) — China's central bank will not launch measures directly targeting the prices of assets such as stocks and real estate, state media reported Friday, citing the bank's vice governor.The Central Bank will keep a close watch on asset prices, but it will not enact measures in response to their movements, the China Securities Journal said, citing Wu Xiaoling, vice governor of the People's Bank of China.Analysts said it shows the central bank would rather focus its monetary policy on the key target of fighting inflation."The central bank has long wished to play the role of US Federal Reserve and places fighting inflation as its major task," Chen Xingdong, a Beijing-based economist with BNP Paribas, told AFP."In other words, it means that (the central bank) will not raise interest rate simply on rising real estate prices when CPI is still stable," he said.China is now struggling to squeeze a liquidity-fuelled asset bubble that has propelled stock and real estate val

The Indonesian Corruption Watchdog (ICW) has filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) a report of graft cases worth some Rp 4.5 billion (US$500,000) involving officials of Bank Indonesia who paid monies in 2004 to ensure several bills at the House of Representatives were deliberated.The report, signed by ICW Coordinator Teten Masduki, was submitted by ICW investigation chief, Adnan T. Husodo, to KPK director of gratification affairs Lambok Hutauruk on Thursday."This case is very serious and (has caused) a total of Rp 4,535 billion in losses to the state," Adnan said.We hope it will be investigated thoroughly to uphold the law and help fight graft."Indonesia News Blog: http://indosnesos.blogspot.com

Indonesian Vice president Jusuf Kalla said on Friday that the interest rate of the Central Bank could reach 8 percent this year. "It can reach 8 percent and the inflation will be 6 percent," he told a press conference at his office here. The central bank cut its benchmark 25 basis points to 8.5 percent this month, due to lower inflation and strong rupiah.

ECB (June 6)There is little doubt but that the ECB will hike rates for an eight time in 18 months, when they meet this Wednesday, to bring the euro zone’s base rate to 4%. The real issue concerning markets is what will happen to euro rates thereafter. The ECB’s Weber was quoted last week as having said the ECB would refrain from using code words to signal future rate hikes, so we expect a new approach from Jean Claude Trichet in his post announcement press conference this week. Economic data from the eurozone is holding up positively, despite the recent rate rises, so the Bank could justify continuing a hawkish line if it so chooses. It is likely that no further rate hike is on the agenda until at least September, so the ECB may decide to kick the issue to touch and adopt a ‘data dependent’ wait and see approach over the coming months. The MPC will justifiably feel vindicated by their policy strategy as the euro area economy continues to grow impressively, while inflation has f

The Governor of UAE Central Bank, Sultan Nasser Al Suwaidi, has mentioned that UAE is likely to witness substantial decline in inflation rates, once more housing units enters the market.Al Suwaidi mentioned that even during the previous year, the inflation rates in the UAE was not alarming, though, it is a fact that UAE has a high single digit inflation, which is expected to come down considerably when new supplies take care of the property demand. The inflation has always been below ten percent, he added.Al Suwaidi mentioned this based on the comments by the Director of International Monetory Fund (IMF), Mohsin S. Khan, that the inflation in UAE is expected to cross ten percent and Dubai, in particular, is expected to witness higher rate of inflation.However, Al Suwaidi agrees with the observation made by IMF that the abnormal high rent rates, scarcity of housing units and the overall constraints in supply are the main factors contribution the high inflation rates rather than the high

The Reserve Bank of India is in the process of reworking the definition of commercial real estate. The revision is aimed at taking hospitals and educational institutions out of the ambit of commercial real estate. More..

Non-resident Indians (NRI) will now have to settle for lower returns from their deposits in India। The central bank has reduced the ceiling on NRI deposits - FCNR (B) and NRE - by 50 basis points, making these deposits less attractive for investors. The downward revision in the cap on interest rates comes in the wake of large capital flows into the country.At present, the interest rate ceiling on FCNR (B) deposits is fixed at London Inter Bank Offered Rate (Libor) minus 25 basis points for all maturities। Now, this will be Libor minus 75 basis points.For NRE deposits, where the depositor takes the exchange rate risk due to the conversion of the funds into rupees, the interest rate ceiling has been brought down to Libor। Earlier, the ceiling was not to exceed 50 basis points above Libor."These measures should result in smaller net inflows and help stabilise the rupee in the medium term,'' said Romesh Sobti, country executive, India ABN Amro Bank।RBI's decision is expected to

Bank Indonesia may switch the benchmark used as a reference to the overnight rate instead of one-month bill sales to better direct borrowing costs and manage inflation, Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono said.The central bank wants to wait for the government to introduce Treasury bills and for the banking sector in Southeast Asia's largest economy to develop before making the change. More debt instruments and an improved banking system will help bring the overnight and the one-month rate closer, which will be the right time to make the transition, Hartadi said.

Bank Indonesia (BI) or the central bank is ready to replace its Bank Indonesia Certificates (SBI) with State Treasury Certificates (SPN) gradually, the bank`s deputy governor, Aslim Tadjudin, said here Friday.But the speed at which SBIs were to be withdrawn would much depend on the number of SPNs issued, he said."The nominal value of SBIs so far issued has reached Rp235 trillion. I hope SPNs will begin to be issued in the first quarter of this year," he said.

 Updated April 11, 2008    Bank of Russia (CB) is ready to facilitate small and middle banks to attract long resources by means of mortgage bonds issue. CB began to elaborate on the corresponding amendments to its own regulations. In the experts' opinion, the amendments will act after mortgage bonds will ...

{mosgoogle right}TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's central bank decided Wednesday to keep a key interest rate unchanged amid lingering worries about a global slowdown.The Bank of Japan policy board meeting unanimously decided to the rate at 0.5 percent, the bank said in a statement.The decision was widely expected amid continued uncertainty over the U.S. economy and its impact on global markets.The market is now awaiting signs about the future direction of monetary policy [...]