samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Øystein Olsen: The Norwegian economy and the sea Speech by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at a business sector seminar, in connection with the launch of the new 100-krone and 200-krone banknotes, Lofoten, 30 May 2017. * * * Accompanying slides This is a day I have been looking forward to for a long time – it’s not every day a new banknote series is put into circulation. The last time was in 1994. And being able to hold the launch here in the Lofoten islands is an added bonus. The sea and the Lofoten islands are inextricably linked – the sea is a defining feature of the landscape and a key source of food, employment and recreation. Norway’s coastline is embraced by the sea from the northernmost point to the southernmost tip. The sea has shaped our history and our economy, and from today onwards, it will also feature on Norwegian banknotes. Norges Bank has been governed by our elected representatives since 1816 under a clear mandate: to safeguard the monetary system and the value of our money. Norges Bank’s banknotes and coins are the community’s money, and our trust in the value of our banknotes is closely linked to our trust in each other. With this in mind, it was important to design banknotes that would tell a story about us as a community of people. As the sea is a key dimension in that story, it was chosen as the theme of the new banknote series.

As oil and gas production gradually dwindles, Norway’s petroleum wealth will continue to generate profits in the form of income from the fund. Chart: Per capita GDP. Norway and other countries – 1970 and 2015 The discovery of oil marked the beginning of an extraordinary era for the Norwegian economy. Before oil was discovered, the income level in Norway was low compared with other western countries. Today, the picture has been reversed. We have gradually caught up with the wealthiest countries. Norway’s GDP per capita is one of the highest in the world. Chart: The 1000-krone banknote (The Ocean Wave) For over a thousand years, the sea has been the source of our wealth and the basis of our contact with the rest of the world. New industries and new technology are redefining our coastal and maritime economy. When the Norwegian economy has been hit by waves, we have used the force of those waves to move forward. And we will continue to do so in the years ahead. The shipping industry is one of the world’s most advanced in terms of developing energy-efficient vessels. The pharmaceutical industry is conducting research into the effect of marine-derived products on a variety of diseases. Wind and wave power will be sources of clean and renewable energy. At the same time, climate change and the loss of biodiversity present challenges that must be met. A continued commitment to maritime and marine research in the years ahead will be an important contribution to maintaining sustainable development.
4  BIS central bankers’ speeches    The total deposit base of the banking system increased by 23 percent to Le1.7 trillion as of November 2010.   Total private sector credit increased by 30.4 percent in 2010, lower than the 46.2 percent recorded for 2009, with non-performing loans declining, albeit slightly, to about 16 percent of total loans by November 2010.   Domestic interest rates remained generally stable, with the exception of interest rates on government securities, which rose due to increased borrowing by Government. This development, which is currently being addressed by the Bank of Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development could have a rippling effect on commercial banks’ lending rates. Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in the early part of 2010, I summoned a series of meetings with board members and managing directors of all commercial banks to review various aspects of their operations, including profitability and corporate governance. The aims of these meetings were to ensure that all commercial banks were brought on board the central bank’s plan to reinvigorate the financial sector by creating stronger, more profitable and efficient institutions and to ensure that individual bank practices do not pose risks to the entire banking system as has been the case in other parts of the globe.

Philipp M Hildebrand: From monetarism to the inflation forecast 30 years of Swiss monetary policy Public lecture by Dr Philipp M Hildebrand, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the University of Berne, Berne, 23 November 2004. The complete speech can be found in German on the Swiss National Bank’s website (www.snb.ch). *  *  *  Following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the Swiss National Bank, in 1974, was one of the first central banks to adopt a monetary policy with monetary aggregates as intermediate targets. The monetarist phase of the National Bank lasted until 1999. During this phase, the National Bank repeatedly changed its monetary targets. In the course of time, it adopted an increasingly pragmatic monetary policy and paid more attention to the development of the exchange rate. In December 1999, the SNB introduced its current monetary policy concept, which uses an inflation forecast as the basis for monetary policy decisions. On the whole, monetarist ideas had a positive influence on Switzerland’s monetary policy. They brought the realisation that price stability is important, thus furthering the process of disinflation in the 1970s and 1980s. Moreover, monetarism caused the SNB to make its monetary policy more transparent and rule-based. The use of monetary aggregates as intermediate targets, however, was more problematic. With money demand proving to be too instable, simply controlling money supply growth was not sufficient to achieve price stability.
These spreads began to rise following the turnaround in the international markets and they had a tendency to rise more on the Icelandic banks than on other banks with every event or news that prompted a general rise in risk aversion and in CDS spreads. The spreads peaked around the end of March and have come down quite considerably this month. The CDS market is an opaque and unregulated one but, nevertheless, CDS spreads are a reference for the terms that would be available to the banks if they were to go to the market. In our view, the CDS levels on the Icelandic banks have been out of proportion to their underlying financial strength, their credit rating and spreads on comparable banks in other countries. It also seems that the CDS market is thin, turnover in CDS transactions on Icelandic banks appears to be limited. One reason behind relatively high CDS spreads on Icelandic banks maybe the fact that a sizeable amount of Icelandic bank bonds issued in recent years ended up in CDO´s which have been in a process of being unwound over the last few months. However, this alone does not explain the very high spreads. It is also quite remarkable that the CDS spread on the Republic of Iceland rose very substantially, even to 400 to 500 points when it was at its highest earlier this year. This happened despite the fact that on a net basis, the Icelandic Government has no external debt.

Ingimundur Friðriksson: The Icelandic economy and financial system in April 2008 Presentation by Mr Ingimundur Friðriksson, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Norwegian Financial Supervisor, Kredittilsynet, Reykjavík, 24 April 2008. *  *  *  It is a great pleasure for me to have been invited to speak to the Board of Directors and management of the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority at its meeting in Reykjavík this week. There are good reasons for the Norwegian Supervisor to come into direct contact with both colleagues in the Icelandic Supervisory Authority and with leaders of financial institutions in general. Much has been written and said about the Icelandic economy and financial system of late, some of it accurate, some of it not so accurate. For the outsider, it may be difficult to separate the accurate from the inaccurate. As requested, I will in my presentation give an overview of recent economic developments and prospects and then touch briefly on the Icelandic financial system. Economic developments and prospects As you know, Iceland is one of the highest income countries of the world and one with a highly developed infrastructure and institutional framework. You may also know that Iceland is prone to greater economic fluctuations than most or all highly developed economies. In the 1990’s, the Icelandic economy was deregulated and liberalised and that process was largely completed with the full privatisation of the Icelandic commercial banks shortly after the turn of the century.
In my view, the role is quite straightforward: it is to sustain a monetary and banking environment that is conducive to resolving the economic and fiscal problems that face our community - not just in the public sector, but also in businesses and households. This is not the passive, static role that it may seem, as the maintenance of a rule-based monetary system in the form of the Link misleadingly suggests. Indeed, there is the scope - and often the need - for an active and imaginative use of financial, supervisory, communication and other skills. The degree of openness and the relatively small size of Hong Kong's financial system, against the background of globalisation, mean that the maintenance of monetary and banking stability is a particularly difficult task. There is also the requirement, implicit in the Basic Law, to look ahead, and in particular, to develop the financial infrastructure that will secure Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre and provide it with the means to build on that position. And there are other important tasks, such as seeking to help the Government in its efforts to contain the fiscal deficit by achieving a favourable return on the fiscal reserves deposited with the Exchange Fund - subject always to meeting the other investment objectives of the Fund. All of these tasks present challenges to keep me and my colleagues busy enough. But there have also been suggestions that the HKMA should take further steps to help stimulate growth.

The general wisdom was that the inevitable direction of the Hong Kong dollar under a freer exchange rate would be to depreciate. The result would be an end to deflation, a boost to economic growth, a reduction in unemployment, and the elimination of the budget deficit. In fact, all of our problems would be cured - and rapidly - by this single panacea. BIS Review 44/2003  1  If only things could be so simple! But, of course, they are not. I have spoken and written at length on other occasions about the huge risks to financial and social stability that we would expose ourselves to in following such a course. Financial markets have a habit of overshooting and precipitating financial crises that are very costly to the community. And it seems, from recent events, that the very premise on which this panacea of exchange rate depreciation is based may be seriously flawed. For the market exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar has strengthened over the past two or three weeks to the extent that it has been necessary for the HKMA to inject liquidity into the system in order to dampen excessive volatility. The market has, all of a sudden, chosen to ignore the continuing problems of deflation, unemployment and budget deficit, and the possible implications of these for the exchange rate. The clear message from the market now is that, were the Hong Kong dollar to be allowed to float, its exchange rate would rise rather than fall.
The rapid growth of the domestic economy inevitably raises the question of whether this is consistent in the long run with the economic stability that has been achieved in recent years. The growing current account deficit clearly preaches caution and underscores the need for sufficiently tight monetary and fiscal conditions. Growth in 1997 was primarily driven by growing private consumption and fixed investment. Private consumption rose by 6 percent and fixed investment by 9.9 percent. Over the last two years fixed investment has increased sharply following many years of contraction. Investment in power-intensive industry has played an important role, as has investment in commercial buildings. Housing investment has also begun to recover during the last two years but not sufficiently to offset the decline in the previous year. Current Account Deficit The current account deficit turned out smaller in 1997 than had been expected, or just in excess of 8 billion kronur. Merchandise imports grew by 5.9 percent in volume terms, with consumer goods accounting for three-fifths of the increase and investment goods for less than a third. Here it needs to be borne in mind that it may have been mere coincidence whether imports for power-intensive industrial projects were recorded in 1997 or 1998. More appear to have been recorded in 1998 than expected. Merchandise exports grew by less than 2 percent in volume terms, which is not a particularly good performance. The growth of exports is in fact too slow in relation to, for example, the expansion of world trade.

rates based on a sufficiently large number of transactions. The Libor administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA), reacted to the FSB report by announcing further improvements to ensure that the Libor rates would become better established through the use of actual transactions. Such actual transactions will be used either directly, for calculating the Libor rates, or indirectly, for underpinning the contributions. In this context, the inclusion of short-term loans to large customers or money market instruments, in addition to interbank market transactions, is being examined as a future possibility. In order to assess the FSB proposals, surveys are being conducted to collect data in the currency areas concerned. The SNB conducted such a survey at the beginning of summer for Switzerland, collecting data on bank transactions on the interbank market and with large customers, as well as on trade in money market instruments. More than 50 domestic and foreign banks took part in the survey. The results confirmed that the small number of actual transactions on the money market currently constitutes a problem for the creation of robust benchmark interest rates. Consequently, it seems improbable that a pure transactions-based approach could be implemented for the Swiss franc. This is also the case if other transaction types and additional instruments are taken into account. For this reason, the Swiss franc Libor will continue to be based mainly on contributions by participating banks. 1  2  IOSCO is the International Organization of Securities Commissions.
This ability has been severely tested by the crisis. Some of the challenges faced by the ECB have been common to other central banks. The threat to the viability of the interest rate channel, and the consequent need to devise alternative (“non-standard”) measures exploiting other channels of transmission, is a prominent example. The crisis has taught us that the liquidity channel exploited by monetary policy in the euro area can be very powerful. It has allowed the ECB to maintain the flow of credit to the real economy and ensure price stability even in face of the soaring liquidity and funding risks experienced by banks during the crisis. Other challenges faced by the ECB have taken a specific form in the euro area and thus been somewhat different from those experienced by central banks elsewhere. The most obvious one is the sovereign debt crisis, with the associated fragmentation of credit markets across national borders and more recently the break-up fears. The destructive potential of these developments is enormous. This has led the ECB to recently announce its Outright Monetary Transactions in secondary markets for sovereign bonds as a means to safeguard the monetary policy transmission mechanism in all countries of the euro area and to counteract self-fulfilling prophecies. The design of OMTs has been inspired by the desire to affirm in a lasting manner “monetary dominance”, in compliance with the principles enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty.

Our macroprudential authority – the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight, comprising representatives from the central bank, the Ministry of Public Finance, and the Financial Supervisory Authority – adopted last year a recommendation to the Government, seeking to improve financial discipline in the economy and the financial soundness of firms. I strongly believe that addressing these structural vulnerabilities in the corporate sector will significantly increase the number of bankable firms and enhance the financial inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises. Last, but not least, the climate-related topics have become more and more prominent worldwide. The financial system should not ignore the effects of climate risks. Central banks and supervisory authorities have joined the scene. There is a significant interest at EU level in the role of sustainable finance, a High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance being established by the Union. The Network for Greening the Financial 4  System, that brings together 34 members, out of which 8 are central banks and supervisory authorities, highlighted the role of climate risks as a source of financial vulnerabilities. Not only the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather can translate into economic and financial losses for the real economy and the financial system, but consequences can also arise from transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Governments’ climate policy, new technologies and consumer preferences will be the main drivers influencing the developments in carbon-intensive sectors.
The number of global and regional positions in Singapore has grown. Most underwriting decisions can be made on the ground instead of being referred back to headquarters. This has enabled the Singapore market to respond more quickly to clients’ needs. Most Asian risks, including entire large reinsurance programmes and specialty risks, can now be fully placed in Singapore. Towards becoming a global marketplace Our vision is for Singapore’s insurance industry to become a global marketplace by 2020, with the ability to accept not just regional, but global risks. To achieve this, we are pursuing four strategies with clearly laid out initiatives. •  First, to increase supply-side capacity, in both volume and expertise. •  Second, to promote insurance demand, both locally and in the Asia-Pacific. •  Third, to develop a true marketplace, where sellers and buyers come together to negotiate and trade risks. •  Fourth, to foster a conducive business environment. Increase capacity Let me begin with our plans to increase supply-side capacity. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  We are focused on increasing the quality and diversity of underwriting expertise here. Having expert underwriters on the ground enables insurers to be more responsive to their clients and make underwriting decisions quickly. They will also have a better understanding of the market environment and underlying risks. Recent events highlight the need to build up a deeper understanding of Asian risks. For example, prior to the devastating floods of 2011, Thailand had not been viewed as catastrophe-prone.

Mario Draghi: Short address on the occasion of the launch of the Europa series € banknote Speech by Mr Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, at the launch of the Europa series € banknote, Bratislava, 2 May 2013. *  *  *  I mentioned this at the end of today’s press conference, but let me say again that I’m very pleased to be here today to see the launch of the new 5 euro, the first banknote of the Europa series. The new banknote will join 15 billion euro notes already in circulation. They are the most visible and tangible symbol of European integration, used from one end of the continent to the other. With the Europa series, we are giving a face to our currency. A portrait of Europa, a figure from Greek mythology, has been incorporated into some of the security features of the new series. After centuries of division, the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its contribution to “the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”. We all know that Europe is experiencing some challenging times. Governments and citizens are making extraordinary efforts to put their economies on a sounder footing and to build a more stable future for the European Union. In times like these, it’s important to remember what the Union and the euro have achieved and what they mean in the longer term, especially for young people.
In normal times, central banks cut their key rates, and this passes through to the yield curve. However, in order to deal with the financial crisis, the ECB like other central banks have brought their key interest rates to very low levels, around zero. This means that our traditional monetary policy tools had to be supplemented by other instruments, known as non-standard instruments, in order to reach our prices stability objective. I will return to this point later. b) What is more with regard to the challenges we currently face, these deflationary pressures create the risk of an unanchoring of expectations, which would make it harder for us to achieve our 2% target again. Indeed, if inflation stayed too low for too long, economic agents may revise downwards their inflation expectations, which would create second round effects. Lower inflation expectations influence economic agents’ price- and wage-setting behaviour, which in turn keeps inflation low. It can even raise the risk of deflation, defined as a cumulative process of falling prices, including those of assets, or even wages and production, as the world economy experienced in the 1930s or Japan partially underwent in the 1990s. Such deflationary dynamics are not at play today. But this risk is the BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  reason why our inflation target is symmetrical. We consider too low inflation to be just as costly as too high inflation. And, therefore, it is more risky for central banks to act too late than too early.

Prior to the decisions made in March and in the weeks that followed, the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee met frequently, often at short notice. On 12 March, we decided to cut the policy rate by 0.50 percentage point. The countercyclical capital buffer requirement was reduced the day after, helping banks to absorb losses and still have the capacity to provide credit. A week later, we reduced the rate further to 0.25 percent. And at the May monetary policy meeting, we took a step further and reduced the policy rate to zero. The Committee also stated that in its current assessment of the outlook for the economy and the balance of risks, the policy rate would most likely remain at today’s level for some time ahead. With a policy rate close to zero, there is a limit to how much further it can be lowered. Other 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  countries have experienced that policy rates can continue to have an impact at slightly below zero, but it is uncertain how negative rates will influence the economy and financial markets, particularly in the current situation. The Committee stated at the monetary policy meeting in May that it is now of particular importance to ensure well-functioning financial markets. The Committee does not envisage making further policy rate cuts. Low interest rates cannot prevent a severe downturn, but can help dampen the decline in activity.