samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
On the monetary policy side, we at the Fed have maintained unusually low levels of short-term interest rates and engaged in large-scale asset purchases. These measures have fostered a sharp improvement in financial market conditions. On the fiscal side (that is, government spending and taxes), the economy has been supported by the shift in policy to help support growth. In particular, the temporary reduction in payroll taxes could have a particularly strong impact on growth during the first part of the year. Third, growth abroad – especially among emerging market economies – has been strong and this has led to an increase in the demand for U.S.-made goods and services. Over the four quarters of 2010. real exports rose 9.2 percent. After a disappointing performance earlier in the year, U.S. net exports surged in the fourth quarter. The firming in economic activity, in short, is due both to natural healing and past and present policy support. In this regard, it is important to emphasize that we at the Federal Reserve have been expecting the economy to strengthen. We provided additional monetary policy stimulus via the asset purchase program to help ensure that the recovery regained momentum. A  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  stronger recovery with more rapid progress toward our dual mandate objectives is what we have been seeking. This is welcome and not a reason to reverse course. Yet, we must not be overly optimistic about the growth outlook.

Of course, Queens is special not just for its central location, but also for its extraordinary diversity. Queens continues to serve as a land of opportunity for immigrants from all over the world. Roughly 46 percent of Queens’ population is foreign born – more than four times the national average and higher than any other county in the country with the exception of Miami-Dade. Sizable communities of immigrants from countries ranging from Columbia to Korea, Ecuador to Egypt, Greece to Guyana, and Italy to India have made Queens their home. This morning I will talk to you about national and regional economic conditions. As always, what I have to say reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or the Federal Reserve System. Introduction to the New York Fed By way of introduction, let me start with a synopsis of what the New York Fed is, what we do and what makes my job so interesting. The New York Fed is part of the Federal Reserve System, America’s central bank, and was created by Congress in 1913. With this act, Congress delegated to the Fed System its constitutional authority to manage the supply of money in the nation’s economy. Congress designed the central bank to be decentralized, representative of all regions of the country and independent of the political process.
It is whether they can convince investors that it is safe to provide them with funding at reasonable spreads over Bank Rate without central bank support. As the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) noted in its recent Review, UK banks are still some way from being able to convince the market in this respect. Regulators, who from 1 April will be in the Bank of England’s new Prudential Regulation Authority, are now working hard to ensure that banks are making adequate provisions for future losses, the likely costs of regulatory penalties and compensation to customers, and stating the riskiness of their assets in a more prudent way. A lesson from past crises, and also from this one, is that it is important to act now rather than hope that problems will go away of their own accord. As the FPC said last December, it is likely that banks will be required either to raise more capital or to restructure their businesses or exposures, and the FPC will review the position in March. There is no single remedy appropriate to all banks. With proper implementation, there is no reason why the two banks with significant state shareholdings could not largely be back in the private sector within a relatively short period. After all, in the United States banks that received state support are already back in private hands. Restoring our banking system to full – and transparent – health is only one of the structural changes that will be necessary to rebalance the economy.

But, as the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has said on many occasions, only politicians can produce lasting solutions to the problems facing the euro area, whether by restoring competitiveness to the periphery or creating a framework for a transfer union. The euro area illustrates a major problem for the world economy as a whole – the need to rebalance domestic demand away from countries with trade deficits to those with trade surpluses. Without that, an increasing number of countries are coming to the view that only a lower real exchange rate will provide the stimulus to demand that their economies require. Several have taken action to achieve that end. That is a recipe for competitive depreciations, what some have called “currency wars”. Yet the existing configuration of exchange rates is unlikely to deliver stability. For almost two decades the world has struggled with, but failed to resolve, this problem. So it is hard to be optimistic about how easy it will be to manage the resulting tensions. The fall in our own exchange rate, of some 25% between late 2007 and the beginning of 2009, has reduced the gap between our exports and imports in real terms from around 3½% of GDP to around 1½%. But the persistence of the current account deficit is evidence that an adjustment of sterling of that order was certainly necessary for a full rebalancing of our economy.
The Riksbank is also studying various measures for changes in the quantity of money as well as bank lending. These quantities also have varying degrees of co-variation with inflation, but with a rather long time-lag. Altogether, it can be said that capacity utilisation, inflation expectations, and the exchange rate are the most important determining factors underlying inflation forecasts. What has been said summarises the main content of the stabilisation policy regime that was established after 1992. On 1 January 1999, the Riksbank was made formally autonomous of political influence and has since then been governed by an executive board of six members. BIS Review 59/1999  6  3. Shall policy control the quantity of money or inflation directly? Some central banks, previously the German Bundesbank and now the European Central Bank, ECB, have an (unclear) quantity of money target for their policy. These banks endeavour to meet the inflation target by trying to control the expansion of the quantity of money. In fact, there are considerable similarities between the methods of aiming at the quantity of money and at inflation. The banks’ means is the repo rate that can be set to affect the quantity of money or inflation. However, as in the case of inflation, the quantity of money cannot either be directly controlled by the repo rate.

Some of you may know that FAA had its beginnings as a division within the Asian Institute of Finance, to review the quality of programmes being offered by AIF’s affiliated institutes. As the components of a quality assurance framework and process started to come together under the AIF, it became clear that in order to realize the vision of a highly competent and high performing workforce in the financial sector, assuring the quality of the learning programs that serve the industry was vital. This led the Board of AIF to take the decision to establish an independent entity which would spearhead and develop this important role to its full potential. That decision was motivated by two objectives. The first was to ensure that the quality assurance function would be fully independent of any interests in program development or delivery. This is necessary to provide a high level of confidence to the industry which should be able to rely on quality assurance assessments as a basis for decisions on training and development priorities. As a separate agency with a transparent governance structure in  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  place, FAA has been able to build a high level of credibility in providing an independent, objective assessment of the quality of training and development programs in meeting defined learning objectives. The second objective was the desire to contribute towards raising standards on education and development in the area of financial services.
25  By the long-run sustainable rate of unemployment, also known as the long-run equilibrium rate of unemployment, I refer to the rate of unemployment in steady state, where the economy is in a state of what is known as balanced growth, the effect of all shocks has waned and expectations are fulfilled. This should not be confused with other more short-run equilibrium concepts. According to Rogerson (1997), this is the only equilibrium concept for unemployment that is well-defined. The Ministry of Finance’s (2011) assessment from April 2011 entails a long-run sustainable rate of unemployment of 5 per cent. The National Institute of Economic Research’s (2011) assessment from December 2011 entails a long-run sustainable rate of unemployment of 5.8 per cent. The Riksbank's (2012b) assessment from July 2012 lies in an interval with a midpoint of 6.25 per cent. My own assessment is that the Riksbank’s midpoint is an overestimate of around 0.75 percentage points and that long-run sustainable rate of unemployment is thus around 5.5 per cent (Sveriges Riksbank 2012a, appendix). 26  In Svensson (2011b) I note that the forecasts for inflation and unemployment looked similar for Sweden and the United States in summer 2010 and that in this situation the Federal Reserve held its policy rate close to zero and began to prepare QE2, the second round of its quantitative easing, while the Riksbank began to raise its policy rate. 12  BIS central bankers’ speeches  How high is the cost of the current policy?

As we advance forward, the reputation, image and stature of the Centre will depend on the performance of its participants and their contributions to the environment and the organisations they represent. ICLIF regards its alumni members as important and looks forward to your continuous support to building ICLIF into a regional centre of excellence for leadership development in financial services. While ICLIF has put in great efforts in working with leading international consultants and the best schools in the design and delivery of its leadership development programmes, we see this as an evolving process. In this context, we see alumni members as an important sounding board in providing feedback to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of ICLIF’s programmes. As beneficiaries of  BIS Review 72/2004  1  ICLIF’s programmes, the alumni members are the best intermediaries in making ICLIF better known to the industry. Ladies and Gentlemen, ICLIF Leadership Competency Model One of the first initiatives by ICLIF upon its inception is to develop a unique leadership competency model that will analyse and enhance the understanding of what makes for great corporate leaders in the regional context. The Competency Model was developed through a participatory process involving strategic insights by industry leaders in the country and the region. This was achieved through behavioural-event interviews as well as benchmarking exercises based on literature research and the database of leadership competency models of world class companies.
The currency rebasing shall be implemented effective 1 January 2013, and is expected to bring efficiency in the Zambian currency as a medium of exchange and store of value. As you may be aware, the Bank is re-introducing coins which will encourage the use of mechanisms such as pay phones, vending machines, car parking meters and other related technologies. Mr. Chairperson, According to the Finscope Zambia survey conducted in 2009 only 33,7% of Zambian adults have access to financial services, leaving 66,3% financially excluded. This is despite the growth in the number of banks and indeed branches in Zambia. It is obvious that at the current growth rate of the penetration of banking services, if this is left to traditional banks alone, it may mean that the majority of Zambians will be financially excluded for a long time to come. Ladies and Gentlemen, given the above challenge, it is quite appropriate to conclude that the mobile payments industry provides Zambia with a unique opportunity to accelerate the provision of banking services in rural and remote areas at an affordable cost to the Zambian people. To this extent I am happy to inform you that since the enactment of the National Payments Systems Act of 2007, when we only had one designated Payments Business, which was Celpay, the Bank of Zambia has now registered 28 Designated Payments Businesses. The Bank continues to encourage growth of the mobile payments sector and other initiatives that promote financial inclusiveness.

Mark Carney: Crossing the threshold to recovery Speech by Mr Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the Financial Stability Board, at a business lunch hosted by the CBI East Midlands, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Directors, Nottingham, 28 August 2013. *  *  *  Introduction I’m delighted to be in the East Midlands today to deliver my first speech as Governor of the Bank of England. With leaders in retail, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, information services, biosciences and education, Nottingham and the East Midlands are integral to the success of the UK economy. The businesses here will make good on the promise of recovery in our economy. So I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to listen to business people in this region. In my years in central banking, I have found that there is no substitute for hearing directly from those who deliver economic growth. What I hear from businesses here and elsewhere is that a renewed recovery is taking hold amid a rising tide of optimism. The signs are that this recovery is broad based and set to continue. This is welcome and should be encouraged. Over the past five years, a pervasive sense of uncertainty has held the economy back. The British people have been through the virtual collapse of the financial system, the worst recession in living memory, large job losses, falls in real wages and a, at times harrowing, crisis in the euro area, our most important trading partner.
Norman T L Chan: Bond Connect – enhancing Hong Kong as an international financial centre Remarks by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Bond Connect Launch Ceremony, Hong Kong, 3 July 2017. * * * The Honourable Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Deputy Director Huang Liuquan, Deputy Director Qiu Hong, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng, Mr CK Chow, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 1. Good Morning. 2. I am very pleased to join you today for the launch of Bond Connect. Bond Connect marks another milestone of mutual access of capital markets between the Mainland and Hong Kong, following the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. It is also another important measure of the Central Government to support Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 3. A key function of Hong Kong as an international financial centre is financial intermediation, providing efficient and safe conduits for fund flows. The establishment and smooth operation of these conduits shall be underpinned by suitable and sound financial infrastructures. Over the years, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has endeavoured to build our financial infrastructures, from the Real Time Gross Settlement system to the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) for debt securities settlement, which have laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong’s development as an international financial centre. 4. Bond Connect is a new financial infrastructure established through the connection between HKMA’s CMU and the relevant central securities depositories (CSDs) on the Mainland.

There were few plans for large-scale investment, and they mainly concerned the renewal of modernization of existing equipment. Retail sales contracted in February, after posting a substantial rise in January. Employment levels remained stable in industry, except in the automobile sector, where they declined. The retail and market services sectors showed little change, but employment fell in the building industry. Increasing use was made of flexi-time, annualized working time and part-time working to respond to variations in demand. BIS Review 32/1997
PE/VC assets under management have risen by a compounded annual growth rate of 22% over the last five years, to reach nearly $ trillion in 20182. Within the Asia-Pacific, ASEAN is emerging as a hotbed of PE and VC deal flow. 2017 PE and VC investments into ASEAN was $ billion, almost three times the deal flow in 20163 . Bain & Company estimates at least $ billion of PE and VC deals and more than ten unicorns emerging over the next five years in Southeast Asia. The optimism is not unfounded. There is an explosion of entrepreneurial energy across ASEAN. 2/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  The region has seen the rapid rise of well capitalized, innovative businesses such as Grab, Go-Jek, and Tokopedia. With a growing middle class and widespread urbanisation, the consumer, technology, and health care related sectors are expected to grow rapidly in ASEAN. Growth companies in these areas are scaling up and internationalising, which requires raising new capital – with a growing volume coming from private markets. Singapore is a natural gateway to private market opportunities in Asia. Singapore has a diverse ecosystem of 240 global and regional PE and VC managers. They managed $ billion of assets as of 2018, up 15% from the year before. Entrepreneurs from across Asia are coming to Singapore to raise capital for their expansion. Singapore itself has become a thriving launch pad for tech start-ups, and is a natural hunting ground for the next unicorn.

As we said in our press release in September, an early move in interest rates “could lower the level at which interest rates might otherwise need to be set”. That is why we raised interest rates last month and why the MPC is committed to the consistent pursuit of a symmetric inflation target. But that is not all. The new monetary policy regime is probably the most transparent and open in the world. We are committed to explaining our policy – both to improve the efficiency of monetary policy itself and also to build up support for what we are doing. Try going onto the Bank of England’s website – the address is www.bankofengland.co.uk – and you will find there the minutes of our meetings, as well as the Inflation Report, available to everyone. You will even find a copy of this speech. You may not always agree with our decisions, but I do hope you will understand the reasons for them. Since the MPC was set up, there is, I think, a better understanding of what we are trying to achieve. Most of those who disagree with particular interest rate decisions accept that it does make sense to have an inflation target. Some might wish that we interpret the inflation target in a way that better serves the interest of their own sector of the economy, but that would be to court popularity in the short term at the expense of achieving low and stable inflation in the long term.
While the U.S. economy is growing, unemployment remains unacceptably high and certain impediments could restrict growth in the near term. One set of challenges are current conditions in the financial system. The initial stages of the financial crisis have been widely attributed to a rapid rise in residential mortgage defaults. Many large financial institutions turned out to have direct exposure – and often indirect exposure through complex linkages – to residential real estate, and found themselves facing severe funding problems as the value and liquidity of their assets sharply diminished. As the real economy slipped into recession in 2008 and unemployment began to rise, other financial instruments came under stress, including commercial real estate loans and instruments based on these loans. Commercial real estate loans are frequently originated by medium-sized regional banks that have significant expertise in their local areas and are often held in the lending bank’s portfolio. In many parts of the United States, including Puerto Rico, these commercial real estate loans have now soured, and many banks are seeing the value of their assets decline and their revenues shrink. In extreme cases, some banks have become insolvent. Finding ways to address problem assets and the health of the exposed banks is fundamental to restoring the banking industry to the firm footing that is needed to properly support economic growth. BIS Review 18/2010  3  To bring this point home, let me step back and offer some observations on the importance of a well-functioning financial system.

HB: What needs to be changed? Trichet: We certainly do need change in Europe – fundamental change. Not only in the area of surveillance and monitoring of fiscal policy, but also as regards structural reform policies and competitiveness policies. HB: Examples? Trichet: We need to improve drastically everything: the quality of the diagnosis and recommendations by the Commission, much more stronger procedures – and where necessary automatic procedures and tools – to prevent ex ante bad policies, and much more effective sanctions ex post. I will make all these points with the greatest energy in the Van Rompuy Committee. HB: Will the measures adopted by the ECB now dampen growth in Europe? Trichet: No. It is a complete fallacy to say that fiscal soundness dampens growth. It is exactly the contrary. It is the absence of fiscal credibility which dampens growth. Medium term sound and credible fiscal policies are a major prerequisite for confidence. And confidence of the households, confidence of the entrepreneurs and confidence of the investors is what is indispensable for the recovery. HB: Did you ever think that you would have to take such difficult decisions as President of the ECB? Trichet: I have had to take difficult decisions throughout my career – including as President of the Paris Club in the 80’s and Chairman of European Monetary Policy Committee in the 90’s as well as Governor of the Banque de France.