samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Christian Noyer: Productivity, competitiveness and globalisation Speech by Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France, at the international symposium on “Productivity, competitiveness and globalisation”, Paris, 4 November 2005. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my great pleasure to open this symposium, which brings together central bankers and representatives of international institutions, prominent academics and high-ranking managers of private banks from both mature and emerging economies to discuss a subject that is of interest and concern to all. A large body of theoretical and empirical literature has been devoted to the issues of productivity, competitiveness and globalisation in response to major macroeconomic and financial changes. The following changes, in particular, may be cited: the end of the catch-up with US productivity levels by the other industrialised countries, the emergence of new players in the international division of labour and world trade and, lastly, the considerable increase in capital flows. The Banque de France has taken part in the research on these subjects through its work on productivity and offshoring. This rich body of work may now be summarised and the speakers at this symposium will contribute to this in the course of three sessions and a round table. The first session, chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, will focus on developments in productivity and competitiveness and aim to present the main concepts and stylised facts in these areas.

The new international division of labour thus affects every stage of the production process; it influences the localisation of added value and raises the question of the financing of the external imbalances of economies that focus on the design and marketing of products rather than their manufacture. The second session will deal with the impact of trends in productivity and competitiveness on international capital allocation and global imbalances. These trends may have contributed to the increase in global imbalances reflected in current account balances, and highlight several paradoxes. The first paradox is that of the US economy, which combines the structural surge in its productivity with a possible loss in competitiveness illustrated by the increase in its external deficit. This paradox is perhaps only apparent if we consider that the improvement in the US’ relative productivity performance is mainly in the non-tradable sector and as compared to the industrialised rather than the emerging economies. In addition, while this pick-up in productivity does boost the profitability of investments, logically, it goes hand in hand with an excess of investment over national savings that calls for increasing foreign capital inflows. However, the predominant nature of capital inflows to the United States changed at the start of the 2000s, switching from mainly purchases of equities and foreign direct investment by the private sector to purchases of government securities by central banks, which are not motivated by the search for increased profitability. This leads us to the second paradox, a twin to the first, i.e.
In conclusion, some recent positive news to cheer us up for Christmas. We hear that the inflation across most Eurozone countries including Malta hastaken a dip in November the first drop in seventeen months. Some say it might have peaked. Gas and oil prices are on the decline. Trasfigura, a respected authority on gas reserves, tells us that the gas crisis has abated not just for this winter but quite possibly the next. The much expected recession at the end of this year might not materialise after all. So ....... the ECB will no longer continue raising interest rates.? 4/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Well ....not quite. Thank you all. 5/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches

Such an integrated, risk-focused approach should aim to inform timely policy interventions and limit contagion. In this context, we welcome both the spillover reports and the Consolidated Multilateral Surveillance Report presented at this meeting as steps in the right direction to understand and act on the implications of increasing interconnectedness among members. In addition, the Fund needs to have a broader, more balanced surveillance mandate that better reflects the major areas of risks confronting the global economy, including risks in sovereign balance sheets and the financial system. We call on the Fund to adopt a new Integrated Surveillance Decision that replaces the 2007 Decision, which focused too narrowly on exchange rates. International monetary system We encourage the Fund to continue its work to strengthen the international monetary system. The experience of countries in our constituency attests to the complex policy challenges posed to emerging market economies by volatile capital flows. We expect the Fund’s work in this area to continue to be even-handed, non-prescriptive and to take into account country specificities. Further, we look forward to the extension of staff analysis of capital flows and associated policies to cover both source and recipient countries. We also support the Fund’s work on examining the case for broadening the SDR basket. This could contribute towards the diversification of reserve holdings, thereby strengthening the stability of the international monetary system over the longer term. Governance reform Governance underpins the legitimacy and traction of the Fund’s activities and advice.
It is also relatively accepted that actions taken under this scheme are designed to increase the resilience of the financial system and its participants when dealing with shocks, or the flip side of the coin, to reduce their vulnerabilities. These definitions have also allowed to specify that macroprudential policy is different from monetary policy, since their objectives (price stability versus financial stability), as well as their emphasis and tools, are different. For instance, while monetary policy operates on the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  basis of projections of the most likely scenarios for the economy over a given period, macroprudential policy operates based on tail risk scenarios that are therefore less frequent. As for the tools they use, monetary policy is mainly conducted with just the benchmark interest rate, whereas macroprudential policy has been associated with many and varied tools, including limits to leverage or credit users’ financial expenditure, limits to banks’ foreign currency mismatches and the use of some sources of funding, application of reserve requirements and other restrictions to credit growth. About the latter, it is worth noting that, while it is possible to motivate the need for macroprudential policies based on various externalities and market failures, so far its implementation has progressed in an ad-hoc and experimental manner, and the tools used are not necessarily aimed at resolving such externalities at their origin.

Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Enhancing the professionalism of Malaysia’s Islamic financial services industry Speech by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Launch of the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals (CIIF), Kuala Lumpur, 6 November 2015. *  *  *  Today’s official launch of the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals (CIIF) marks a momentous occasion that reflects our collective effort to enhance the professionalism of the Islamic financial services industry. We are embarking on a long journey to create a new landscape of talent development, one which is permeated with a strong culture of professionalism, integrity and ethics. Greater professionalism among Islamic finance practitioners will instil greater confidence and capability to the Islamic finance industry to better serve public interest. The recent global financial crisis has brought to the fore the importance of trust, confidence and integrity in the financial services sector. The banking industry is subjected to continuous scrutiny on their values, professionalism and work ethics. This has prompted a host of initiatives both domestically and globally, aimed to strengthen the industry, given the significant role financial institutions have to the broader interest of society and the overall economy. Maintaining public confidence is critical. It is therefore in the industry’s interest to always place public trust above everything else, and only if we are able to do this, we shall enjoy the confidence that ensures the long-term growth of the industry.
As you know, the crisis have arguably provided provocative questions regarding the management of financial markets, to which answers are now being actively sought. Ladies and Gentlemen, financial markets provide the liquidity necessary to facilitate transactions in assets. By pooling resources from a myriad of savers, financial markets play a critical role in directing resources to profitable investment projects. The ability of financial markets to effectively contribute to economic development depends on the availability of affordable capital and its efficient allocation in the economy. For this reason, affordability of capital is an important input in any economy’s progress. But the relevant question then is “How Can We Make the Cost of Capital Affordable?” Distinguished Delegates, this question cannot be adequately answered without putting it in some historical context. Most of you will recollect that two decades ago, the Zambian Government embarked on an ambitious financial liberalisation programme and dismantled many forms of administrative controls, in general, to improve the efficiency of our economy. The expectation from this policy shift was that the economy would score efficiency gains primarily arising from increased competition in the financial system. Two decades on, it would be hard to disagree that our financial system has certainly faced increased competition. Whereas the number of commercial banks at the end of the 1990s was 14 after the failure of some insolvent banks, Zambia now boasts of 18 commercial banks who in aggregate have a total of 263 branches.

These exceptional orders of magnitude clearly necessitate prudent decision-making when determining the appropriate regulatory framework for banks in Switzerland. Preventive measures Let me first turn to the preventive measures. These measures should focus on strengthening the shock absorbers of the financial system and thereby making the system more resilient. In the context of the most significant banks, this essentially means that they have to hold substantially more and better quality capital and liquidity. Strengthening capital requirements As we all know, the crisis has revealed fundamental weaknesses in existing capital requirements. 4  Other important reports include “Financial Reform: A Framework for Financial Stability” by the Group of 30, and “The Global Financial Crisis: A Plan for Regulatory Reform”, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, May 2009. 5  “Restoring Confidence, Creating Resilience: An Industry Perspective on the Future of International Financial Regulation and the Search for Stability”, Institute of International Finance, July 2009. 6  Speech by E. Gerald Corrigan, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, at the Presidential Symposium, University of Rochester, 10 October 2009. 2  BIS Review 145/2009  To address these weaknesses, a considerable amount of work has already been done and is still underway in the FSB and, crucially, in a number of working groups of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
Although the international economic outlook is somewhat less favourable than in March, the upswing in the global economy is likely to be maintained in the months ahead. In the US, in particular, the latest production and labour market indicators have been disappointing. Due to the high commodity prices and the production losses in Japan, the SNB has revised its 2011 growth forecast for the advanced economies downwards to some extent. Moreover, numerous countries are planning to undertake additional cost-cutting measures in the year  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  ahead. The rise in commodity prices since autumn of last year is expected to result in significantly higher inflation worldwide in 2011. Swiss economic outlook According to the SECO estimate, the growth of real GDP in Switzerland slowed in the first quarter, mainly because of the muted advance in private consumption and equipment investment. By contrast, exports recorded a marked gain as a result of robust international demand, particularly from Germany and Asia, despite the strength of the Swiss franc. The strong momentum in construction also supported growth. Utilisation of technical capacity continued to pick up and was above the long-term average in manufacturing; in the construction sector it actually attained a record high level. The recovery on the labour market also continued. After a massive increase during the crisis, measures introducing short-term work have largely been retracted. In May, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment ratio decreased to 3.0% and companies are reporting more difficulties in recruiting qualified employees.

On all new measures, there has always been a lot of prior discussion, after which we have always managed to make a decision. The debate is not only about whether we should do it at all but also about when we should do it. Some believe that should have started buying bonds months ago, others think that we should do it maybe later or that we should do it straightaway. There are not two opposing camps; it is much more complex than that. And many of us have held certain views but have changed their minds over time, wondering whether quantitative easing was the only way to maintain price stability. Whatever we do, it  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  must be a common Eurosystem programme, in which all national central banks take part, with clear rules and coordinated by the Governing Council. No one should be excluded, no one should be allowed to purchase more than others. We have had negative inflation figures last week. Isn’t that an argument to start now? C.N. This is not about negative inflation figures at a point in time, but rather about the risk of having either negative of very low inflation for a too long period of time. Expectations could then change, resulting in less consumption and less investment. The credibility of the ability of the ECB to keep price stability must not be jeopardised. Should the ECB limit its purchases to highly-rated bonds? C.N. It is too early to answer your question.
We are encouraging and working with key FX players and platforms to anchor their e-trading facilities, matching and pricing engines in Singapore. As the e-trading ecosystem builds up, this will bring about better connectivity and latency; enhance pricing and trade execution; and improve clients’ trade fill-ratios and hence customer satisfaction, for market participants operating in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. To date, MAS has received good interest from a strong pipeline of players – global tier 1 banks, non-banks and platforms – looking to set up their trading engines in Singapore. XTX Markets and our own home-grown Spark Systems are good examples of the first movers as a start. We will see more in time to come. 24 Next, skills. Complementing the business strategies and innovation agenda will be an active SkillsFuture programme to help the financial sector workforce build world-class skills. The financial industry is no stranger to transformation. It was not too long ago that exchanges were physical floor trading venues where buyers and sellers met and negotiated. But look at how that has changed today. The financial industry has been nimbler than other industries in the adoption of technology and data. As we enhance our market structure, analysis and business processes with the use of artificial intelligence (or AI), algorithmic trading, big data and coding skills, and new financial technology such as distributed ledger technology, the nature of job roles in the FX market will continue to evolve too.

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When we intervene in the foreign exchange market, we exchange new Swiss francs for foreign currency instead of giving them away. The creation of money in the context of foreign exchange market interventions is thus not ‘debt-free’. Economic order  Another problem is that the Swiss sovereign money initiative is etatist and imposes an unnecessary burden of responsibility on the SNB and disempowers the private sector. This does not fit in with the Swiss concept of the state and runs counter to proven principles of economic order. In order to achieve its aims, the initiative also does not shy away from providing for the possibility of general restrictions in economic freedom. This is clearly set out in the second sentence of the proposed article in the constitution. Adoption of the initiative would impose additional tasks on the SNB. The SNB today has the clear and appropriate mandate to ensure price stability and has a large degree of flexibility in fulfilling it. Under the sovereign money system, the SNB would have to assume tasks which far exceed this mandate. The initiative imposes two additional tasks on the SNB: first, making ‘debt-free’ payments and, second, guaranteeing the supply of credit to the Swiss economy. The latter is problematic because it could lead to a conflict of interest between price stability and credit supply. Above all though, it means that the SNB would have to decide precisely who should receive the loans.

Just how difficult that would be – and how far sovereign money would complicate our work – can be illustrated by taking the example of our monetary policy during the last financial crisis. Over a very short space of time, we created a vast amount of money; initially to ensure liquidity in the banking system, and thereafter to counter the massive upward pressure on the Swiss franc. This led to a significant expansion of our balance sheet. How would we have proceeded in a sovereign money system? We would probably not have reacted so decisively given the difficulty of reducing liquidity once it has been created in a sovereign money system, which can therefore lead to higher inflation further down the line. A weaker monetary policy reaction would have exacerbated the negative consequences of the crisis for the real economy. Quite apart from that, it is doubtful whether we would even have been able, in a sovereign money system, to react as we did because the initiative limits the number of tools we would 2  As regards the SNB’s shift from monetary targeting to interest rate targeting, cf. Meyer, Hans, On monetary policy in the new year, speech held at the University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, 20 January 2000. Page 6/8  have available. Interventions in the foreign exchange market, which have played a central role in combating the overvaluation of the Swiss franc, would not actually be allowed under a sovereign money system.
Previous prudent fiscal policies have allowed an expansionary stance to support the growth while low inflation and excess capacity has allowed for the monetary stimulus. Third, favourable demographic factors The Asian region accounts for more than half of the world’s population and continues to grow at a relatively high and stable rate. Of importance is that the region has a relatively young demographic structure with rising education, which augurs well for securing a large and dynamic labour force going into the future. These favourable demographic prospects of the region increase the potential for creating a consumer group with high purchasing power, thus providing an increased potential for growth in domestic demand. 2  BIS Review 43/2003  Four, rising middle-income consumers Rising income and urban migration in Asia has produced a large and vibrant middle-income group, creating a pivotal change in the pattern of consumption to deliver the positive benefits in domestic demand growth. The cumulative effects of policies that have been implemented previously have resulted in increasing income and living standards and established the foundations to accentuate the transformation of domestic demand in the region. China’s domestic market with a population of more than 1.2 billion, is already the world’s largest market for mobile phones and is poised to be the world’s largest market for personal computers. By 2005, it is estimated that 15% of China’s population would consist of about 200 million middle-income consumers equipped with a high propensity to consume.

Caleb M Fundanga: Banking in Zambia and the Kwacha appreciation Speech by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the German Ambassador’s working lunch, Lusaka, 7 June 2006. *  *  *  •  Your Excellency, the Germany Ambassador to Zambia, Dr. Ireen Hinrichsen;  •  Representatives of German Banks in South Africa;  •  The German Business Community;  •  Representatives of Local Banks;  •  Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of the Zambian people and indeed on my own behalf, it gives me great pleasure to welcome our German visitors to Zambia. I am deeply humbled to be invited for this business luncheon hosted by Your Excellency. This interaction, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, is very important to foster and enhance mutual co-operation between our two great nations. Your Excellency, with your permission, I will begin my address by discussing banking in Zambia and then proceed to give some highlights on the recent economic developments in the country. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, in the early 1990s, Zambia embarked on economic liberalisation, of which reforming the financial sector was a major part. Specific measures which were undertaken included, among others, the removal of all restrictions on interest rates and elimination of controls on foreign exchange rates. Interest and exchange rates are now market determined, principally based on demand and supply.