samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Mr. Yam looks at the future of Hong Kong as a financial services centre for China and the Asian region Speech by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr. Joseph Yam, JP, to Coopers and Lybrand Financial Services Conference in Hong Kong on 28/10/97. I have been asked to speak on Hong Kong’s role as a financial services centre for China and the Asian region. As you know, many of the economies of the Asian region, including of course the mainland of China, have been undergoing a rapid process of financial liberalization. This has brought tremendous benefits to the region, through providing the mechanisms for channelling savings into investments, domestically and internationally, thus promoting growth and development of the region. The process has brought substantial risks to the region as well, as clearly you have witnessed in the past few months when financial turmoil spread in the region. 2. Notwithstanding the financial problems now being faced by the region, the balance of opinion is still firmly that financial liberalization is of long-term benefit. The correct response to such problems is clearly, at least for the immediate future, to take the right medicine and implement the necessary economic adjustment programmes, prescribed if necessary by the International Monetary Fund. Indeed, this has very much been the focus of recent attention when one looks at individual economies in this region that have been subject to financial turmoil. But prevention is always better than cure.

In the OECD countries, especially in the US, there is solid growth with low inflation, BIS Review 112/1997  -4-  while we are seeing signs of broad-based recovery in Europe. Only in Asia have we seen a slowing of growth, but the growth rates have still been high by world standard and last year Japan grew by 3.6%, the fastest since the late 1980s. 15. Second, because of high global liquidity and low inflation, asset markets around the world are at record levels. Capital flows have increased with globalization, and added to record high stock and bond prices. The fact that Europe has recently raised interest rates, and the Fed is considering whether to pre-emptively raise rates to prevent wage-push inflation, has made the financial markets much more nervous despite the growth environment. This explains why the financial volatility in Asia has become global in nature. It is very flattering to know that Hong Kong can move even the mighty US and European markets, as much as the other way around. 16. Third, Asian fundamentals, and especially Hong Kong fundamentals, are strong. But there have been different degrees of strength in Asia with respect to the fundamentals. The adjustments in exchange rates of currencies in this region reflect partly the market perception of fundamentals. But as I said recently at the Per Jacobsson lecture, there is no perfect exchange rate regime.
Jean-Pierre Roth: Recent economic and financial developments in Switzerland Introductory remarks by Mr Jean-Pierre Roth, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, at the end-of-year media news conference, Zurich, 13 December 2007. *  *  *  Economic outlook The last few months have seen a number of remarkable events in the global economy. The US dollar has plunged, dropping below the level attained in 1995 against the Swiss franc. Oil prices have continued to soar, threatening to breach the hundred dollar mark. Sub-prime credit markets continue to disrupt financial markets. How have these factors affected the international economy? The US economy is affected simultaneously by the unfavourable developments in real estate markets, which are impacting on credit markets, and by increasing oil prices. At the same time, the fall in the dollar is bolstering external demand, so that most observers are not forecasting more than a temporary decline in US economic growth next year. As for the European economy – which is less open than the national economies of which it is composed – it is only slightly affected at present by the upturn in the euro, mirroring the downturn in the US dollar. The outlook for European growth in 2008 remains favourable, despite a light downward correction. All in all, the international economic situation remains generally positive, although it is true to say that this assessment is even more uncertain than three months ago.

BIS Review 150/2007  3  Observed inflation December 2007 2004 Q1  Inflation  2005 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  2006 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  2007 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  0.06 0.87 0.91 1.38 1.35 1.06 1.18 1.10 1.23 1.33 1.22 0.46 0.09 0.52 0.63  Inflation forecast of September 2007 with Libor at 2.75% and of December 2007 with Libor at 2.75% 2007 Q1  Forecast September 2007, Libor at 2.75% Forecast December 2007, Libor at 2.75%  4  2008 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  2009 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  2010 Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  0.66 1.20 1.50 1.38 1.57 1.69 1.75 1.80 1.85 1.91 1.96 2.00  1.62 2.14 1.54 1.56 1.51 1.47 1.46 1.46 1.48 1.51 1.53 1.55  BIS Review 150/2007
This Code extends to all wholesale market participants – sell-side, buy-side, non-bank market makers, trading platforms and market infrastructure. A question that we have been asked frequently comes from buy-side participants – Why does the Code matter to me? The application of the Code to all wholesale market participants, including the buy-side, stems from the belief that good practices should apply to all market participants and not only a subset. 2/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  With widespread adoption, the power of market discipline and peer pressure can be immense. This is important for a voluntary Code. The Code incorporates the principle of proportionality, given the diverse nature of market participants. What this means is that not every principle will apply directly to every market participant. In the case of a buy-side participant, you will find that only a portion of the principles have direct applicability. For example, most of the principles relating to execution are directly applicable only to sellside participants. Hence, the implementation burden may not be as significant as one would expect. Nevertheless, while the rest of the principles may not have direct applicability, they provide clarity to your counterparty relationship with the sell-side. By understanding the practices that your counterparties are abiding by, it informs what you should expect from the counterparty relationship. For example, in the hotly debated issues of mark-ups and last look, the good practices help you make more informed choices in selecting and interacting with your counterparties.

Christine Lagarde: Hearing at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament Speech by Ms Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, at the Hearing at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, 20 March 2023. ***  Accompanying charts of the speech I am happy to be back in this Parliament to discuss the ECB's monetary policy shortly after last week's Governing Council meeting. More than one year has now passed since that February morning when we all woke up to the horrifying news of war in Europe. The Russian invasion of Ukraine – which you have selected as a topic for this hearing – is first and foremost a human tragedy for the people of Ukraine. And in the face of this senseless atrocity, they have shown remarkable resilience and determination. In the words of the former President of this Parliament, José María GilRobles, who sadly passed away last month, "The future belongs to those who are prepared to make the effort to hear the voice of hope".1 As Europeans, we need to continue hearing the voice of hope coming out of Ukraine and support the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom, democracy, and peace – the fundamental values of our Union. It is clear that solidarity, especially during this crisis, makes us stronger and more resilient.
For its part, the total capital ratio has increased by 1.7 pp over the past four years, and the leverage and liquidity ratios are above the European averages. Indeed, recent stress tests by the European Banking Authority and the Banco de España show Spanish banks’ solvency position gives them considerable resilience against adverse scenarios. Nevertheless, even recognising the significant progress made in recent years, the Spanish banking sector continues to face important challenges, which it largely shares with other euro area banking systems. The most significant of these challenges are: i) speeding up the sale of unproductive assets; ii) strengthening capital and liabilities subject to bail-in; iii) improving the industry's reputation by avoiding the risk of misconduct; iv) confronting the challenge of profitability without undue easing of lending standards; and v) making progress in the use of new technologies, which, although they represent a major challenge for the 13/14  sector, at the same time they present an opportunity for those entities able to use them to their advantage. In short, the supervisory community and financial institutions share the future challenge of ensuring a more stable financial system that offers better services to society. Concluding remarks In this talk I have reviewed economic policy’s existing room for manoeuvre and instruments with which to address future crises. I started by discussing those elements (such as reform to the euro’s institutional architecture, international financial system reform and developments in world-trade rules, which will increasingly shape national economic policy).

You also ordered setting a minimum wage of Rls 3,000 for all Saudi government employees, allocated a monthly amount of Rls 2,000 for job seekers, and raised capital of the Saudi Credit and Saving Bank by Rls 30 billion. The number of family members covered by the social security was increased from 8 to 15 with an allocation of Rls one billion for that purpose. The government subsidies for charity associations rose by 50 percent to Rls 450 million annually, and needy families’ sons and daughters were supported to join  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  universities through allotting them a portion of seats, facilitating their admission requirements, and exempting them from some tuition fees. This package of honorable royal decrees will enhance the standard of living of the least-income segment of population and promote its ability of saving and, thereby, raise its future productivity and income, and reduce poverty, to which you always attach considerable attention. In the health care arena, you ordered supporting the Ministry of Health with Rls 16 billion in order to carry out the expansion of a number of hospitals and health centers. You increased the maximum limit of the Ministry of Finance’s financing program of private hospitals from Rls 50 million to Rls 200 million. This would hopefully enhance health care services in the Kingdom.
We have also seen a significant cut in bank retail interest rates combined with a rise in loan volumes. Since 2014, bank lending rates to firms have dropped by more than 100 bp on average in the euro area [and by as much as 130 bp in Italy; and the spread between Italy and France decreased by 60 bp between January 2014 and February 2017]. The growth rate of bank loans to non-financial corporates has increased from –4% in late 2013 to +2% today. Bank loans to households have also gone from negative to positive growth rates. In addition, the economic recovery is currently firming and broadening. Growth has been steady for, as I speak, 14 quarters in a row and 5 million jobs have been created since mid-2013 in the euro area, although unemployment is still too high at 9.6%. This recovery is neither fast nor vibrant enough but it has prevailed in spite of a number of global and domestic shocks. [slide] Growth in the euro area was slightly higher than in the United States in 2016, and should not be very far off in 2017. Next steps for monetary policy So what should we do next? It is clear that the current macroeconomic environment does not call for a recalibration. Our current monetary policy stance remains fully appropriate based on current information, as Mario Draghi has stressed, and should not be adjusted before we see more concrete signs that inflation can be sustained at levels closer to our target.

Today, the euro accounts for 20% of international reserves, second only to the dollar. An internationally recognised currency generates economic gains: financial markets are more attractive to domestic and foreign investors, more liquid, and thus more efficient. But it also carries a political weight: when Mario Draghi speaks at the G20, the whole world listens to Europe attentively, just as when Janet 2/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  Yellen speaks for the United States. Overall, this list of benefits is impressive, particularly when you think that the euro is only 18 years old. More importantly, we have come this far despite the global financial crisis, which triggered the deepest recession in three generations, and despite the euro area sovereign debt crisis a few years later. 2. Let me now turn to monetary policy: the euro has passed the stress test of the crises. a. Monetary policy Successful crisis management The Eurosystem has deployed an innovative and resolute monetary policy strategy, which has helped stabilise the euro area economy and reduce the costs of crises. Let me briefly recall what we have done [slide]. We had first to face, like you, the consequences of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Like many other central banks, we reacted promptly by offering unlimited liquidity to financial intermediaries, sharply lowering our main refinancing rate and providing international swap lines. Yet, this was only our first challenge. The Lehman episode paved the way for the euro area sovereign debt crisis and its amplification through the “bank-sovereign” nexus.
If you buy today, you will always be able to sell at a better price tomorrow. Where the housing market is concerned, however, there is reason to question whether a bubble is possible at all. This is because most people do not purchase a home primarily as an investment but rather as a place to live. Consequently, a house buyer neither thinks nor behaves as an investor speculating on a quick and persistent rise in prices. There can hardly be many people who buy a home solely because they expect to gain financially through a rise in house prices! So assuming that speculation on future price increases doesn't exist, a bubble should quite simply not be able to occur. Some of you might now be thinking that this is just a convenient academic approach to the issue. After all, we have witnessed rapid price increases and even faster declines in the housing market, for example for tenant-owned apartments in metropolitan areas during the crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. In principle, I would be prepared to agree, if it proved impossible to explain the price rises with fundamental factors. In order to see if there are fundamental factors that could explain the recent price increases, it makes sense to look at the driving forces that could have been important for house prices, i.e. interest rates, primarily the post-tax real interest rate, household disposable income, the supply of housing and the demand that results from people moving to metropolitan areas in particular.

Speculation in construction was also less prevalent during the upswing at the end of the 1990s than during the rise in activity a decade earlier. Production of property has been relatively low, and projects have had pre-contracted tenants to a greater extent. In addition, the property crisis at the beginning of the 1990s was affected significantly by the structural changes that occurred during the period. The deregulation of the credit market together with the changes in economic policy required substantial adjustments in the market. So the present situation is not a cause for concern in the same way as the situation at the beginning of the 1990s. Some thoughts on the future The fact that the situation is not a source of concern does not mean that I am predicting a significant recovery in property prices. An increase in economic activity will of course stimulate demand, which sooner or later will apply upward pressure on prices. But at the same time I can see several factors which could restrain a rise in property prices, especially with regard to office premises. BIS Review 38/2003  3  Firstly, there is a risk that demand for office premises will be weaker than the general level of demand in the economy. From the mid 1990s, there was a gradual improvement in economic activity in Sweden, which resulted in higher employment in general, but particularly within office-intensive businesses such as IT and telecommunications.
Notwithstanding this, and as a natural consequence of credit growth in the past, and of a macroeconomic setting characterised by a cyclical turning point, we should expect continuing rises in bad debts in the coming months. This rise in bad debts should concern us, and indeed it would be alarming if bank regulators and supervisors were unconcerned; but it does so only moderately, bearing in mind the resilience of the banking sector according to the stress tests performed by the Banco de España under assumptions in which extremely adverse scenarios materialise. Nor will I be referring today to the problems that are common to all adjustment processes, the adjustment in the Spanish economy having moreover begun before the turbulence emerged last summer. Rather, I shall be focusing on what for me is the worst effect of this turbulence: the global financial market dysfunctions. So you may better understand my subsequent remarks, I would like to very briefly outline how, starting from a very limited  BIS Review 62/2008  1  segment of the US mortgage market (the subprime mortgage segment), we have reached a generalised situation of international financial market turbulence. The factors behind the current situation are complex. But in my opinion there are two key elements that explain such an intense process of propagation.

Reasons behind this behaviour are understandable and related to the fact that the majority of the society acquires information circumstantially, hoping that the actual failure becomes a lesson for the future. One way to eradicate circumstantial learning is the introduction of financial reading at an early stage of education. In this view, I would proudly say that, the Bank of Albania has provided an outstanding contribution. Allow me to briefly make an résumé of our work in this aspect. The first strategic station of financial education provided by the Bank of Albania was needs assessment and identification of training priorities. From this point of view, we assessed that it was indispensable to open the Bank “de facto” to the public. More frequent communications with the market and its important participants, as well as periodic explanations of monetary policy decision-making and risks balance related to inflation and financial stability, are some initiatives that we consider as a very effective education process. I am proud to say that now we have:   A public opinion that builds up expectation as regards our decision-making;    A media sector, which has admirably enhanced understanding, interpretation and expectations related to our decision-making;    A banking sector, which reads accurately and responds with high flexibility to the direction oriented by us;    A qualified public critique, where Bank of Albania finds a mirror of alternative opinions on its adopted decisions and practices.
National income increased by a little more than 30 per cent in real terms between 2003 and 2007. The real krone exchange rate measures developments in the value of the Norwegian krone, adjusting for inflation differentials between Norway and its trading partners. This provides an indication of the relationship between the level of external and domestic prices, which in turn reflects developments in cost levels. In real terms, the krone has appreciated by about 10 per cent since the mid-1990s, while labour costs in a common currency have risen by close to 30 per cent more than among our trading partners. This may be partly ascribable to the cyclical expansion and the low level of household saving. But most likely the strong krone reflects the substantial improvement in the terms of trade and productivity. Public spending growth is fuelling demand for goods and services and draining labour from the business sector, albeit not faster than planned. Even though the cost level in Norway has increased and is high, there is full employment. Thus, it seems that our business sector will have to live with – and can live with – the real value of the krone and the current cost level unless a possible downturn has a particularly severe impact on the Norwegian economy. BIS Review 18/2008  5  Sharing the benefits There was a fundamental shift in Norwegian economic policy in the 1980s and 1990s. 4 Capital and credit markets were liberalised. It became easier to establish and build up new businesses.

Svein Gjedrem: Economic perspectives Address by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the meeting of the Supervisory Council of Norges Bank, Oslo, 14 Thursday 2008. Please note that the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. *  *  *  Introduction Henrik Wergeland was born 200 years ago. He worked in the vicinity of the central bank in periods. His plays were performed at the Christiania Theatre, which was located at Bankplassen, and as national archivist his office was located at Akershus fortress, a stone's throw from the central bank. Wergeland lived near Grønlia below Ekeberg. He travelled to town by rowing across Bjørvika. He moored his boat near Bekkevold’s pub on Skippergata, which is today known as "Grei Kafé". That is also where he met the proprietor’s daughter, Amelia Sofie, who became his wife. 1 Wergeland wrote a poem “Follow the Call”, which includes a well known verse: “But our world must still be young, Saga of each race must be still merely its cradlesong and its childhood fairy tale. Creatures from the age of chaos […]” 2 Chaos and fear exploded with full force in the financial markets last autumn. We are again witnessing that market participants suffer from a short memory span. Crises, imbalances and bubbles House prices in the US started to fall in 2006.