samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
It is very important for future French growth, for investment and for job creation that we have the lowest medium- and long-term market rates in the European Union today and the third lowest interest rates in the world. Second, price stability curbs cost increases in our productive sector. In doing so, the competitiveness of our economy—other things being equal—is preserved and enhanced. This is good for future French growth and for job creation. It is important to note that we currently have a dynamic export sector and, according to the latest forecasts for 1996, the third highest current account surplus in the world. One other indicator of competitiveness is encouraging, namely the flow of foreign direct investment into France. It stood at FRF 120 billion in 1995. The latest figures for the first nine months of 1996 show inward foreign direct investment totalling FRF 74 billion. In all, since the beginning of 1995, a total of FRF 194 billion, the equivalent of USD 39 billion, has been invested directly in France, making us the third-ranking industrialized economy in terms of inward foreign direct investment, behind the United States and the United Kingdom.

Ravi Menon: Blended finance for the net-zero transition Opening remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the "Transition Finance towards Net Zero" conference, Singapore, 4 October 2022. *** Good morning and welcome to the inaugural Transition Finance towards Net Zero conference. COP27 will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in a little over a month. We are privileged to have with us Dr Rania Al-Mahsat, Egypt's Minister for International Cooperation, who will set out the Egyptian COP27 Presidency's priorities to turn climate ambition into climate action. Why are we gathered here? Let me briefly lay out the problem statements and then set out how this conference hopes to contribute in specific ways to help the situation. First, the world is currently not on a trajectory to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. And we know this is what is required to prevent or avoid catastrophic climate change. To reach Net Zero by 2050, the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, relative to 2010 baseline levels. But emissions today are still rising, not falling. And according to the UN Emissions Gap report 2021, based on our current policies in place, the world is 55% short of the emissions reduction target for 2030. Second, the world is investing nowhere near what is required to get to net zero by 2050.
We also intend to introduce Internet Banking Guidelines and Security Standards for mobile Central Bank of Sri Lanka – ROAD MAP 2017  Sri Lanka needs to strengthen the AMF/CFT regime by effectively implementing Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations in order to upgrade the country rating. If Sri Lanka fails to achieve the expected level of compliance, the country may be considered as a high risk country, resulting in adverse implications on the financial sector. In order to overcome such challenges and hence to ensure compliance, the Central Bank will focus on a number of strategic actions in the medium-term. I would also like to note that the Microfinance Act came into effect on 15 July 2016. In line with this, the Department of Supervision of Microfinance Institutions (DSMI) was 24  established at the Central Bank of Sri  management model, where the  Lanka to carry out the responsibilities, as  operational managers form the first line  stipulated in the Microfinance Act No. of defense, and the Risk Management  06 of 2016 and implement policies  and Internal Audit Departments  approved by the Monetary Board to  constitute the second and third lines of  ensure good governance, transparency  defense, respectively. and stability of Microfinance Institutions  Moreover, in view of the need to build a  (MFIs).

The relaxed monetary  and third quarters of the year and  policy stance pursued in the past and the  subdued demand conditions in the major  increase in wages in the economy also  export destinations affected this  exerted some demand pressures on  growth. Industry-related activities grew  prices. Accordingly, headline inflation, as  substantially in 2016 with considerable  measured by the year-on-year change in  contribution from the recovery of the  the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index  construction sector. Notable growth  (CCPI, 2006/07=100), was 4.1 per cent in  was also witnessed in manufacturing,  December 2016 compared to 2.8 per  and mining and quarrying activities. cent in December 2015. Headline  Meanwhile, the growth in Services  inflation, as measured by the year-on  activities also remained buoyant,  year change in the National Consumer  supported by improvements in financial  Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100), was 4.1 per  services, and wholesale and retail trade  cent in November 2016 compared to 4.2  activities. Based on these developments  per cent at end 2015. Accordingly, overall  so far, it is projected that the economy  inflation has been contained within our  would grow by around 4.5 – 5.0 per cent  mid-single figure target of 4 – 6 per cent. in 2016.
The Bank of course retains the ability to relaunch the scheme as necessary and in light of that the MPC judges the effective lower bound to Bank Rate to be now close to but a little above 0%. The ECB’s targeted long-term refinancing operations (TLTROs), first launched in 2014, also built on the experience of the FLS, as part of the three-pronged easing strategy, which also included cuts in the ECB deposit rate into negative territory and the launch of asset-backed security and corporate bond purchase programs. The facility was initially launched at margin of 10bps over the ECB’s marginal lending rate, though over time the pricing was reduced and tied instead to the deposit rate. As with the FLS and TFS, higher interest rates for banks that are contracting lending provide an incentive to lend. As with the UK, the TLTRO provided an innovative way to reduce the effective lower bound. With the link to the ECB’s deposit rate the TLTRO provided a way for the ECB to take wholesale interest rates significantly below zero without counterproductive compression to margins in the banking sector (Chart 9).

4  BIS Review 84/2005  I believe that we need to combine these four vertical and horizontal aspects – together with enhanced supervisory transparency at all levels – in order to have the most effective and efficient system. Conclusion In concluding my intervention today, I would be the first to admit that the ideas I have mentioned today are not revolutionary, but I believe that an evolutionary and balanced approach is the best way forward and provides the greatest chances of success. The flip-side of the coin in this evolutionary approach is that the responsibility to deliver is greater. But if we do not succeed in meeting our objectives, we should not be afraid to explore other, more radical solutions. The costs of non integration is too high. I would also like to re-emphasise that we have the possibility to make rapid and real progress in promoting an effective and efficient framework for European banking supervision. This should not only help us to achieve our goals within the EU, but could also promote greater convergence beyond the EU. Allow me to put my Basel hat on for a couple of final comments on related challenges of the Basel Committee. At a more global level, we face the same consistency issue in the implementation of Basel II, and as I said, in this case, Europe can lead this process, we in Europe have more instruments to do it, and the example can be very helpful for the Basel process.
Local Rochester movie theaters will air the winning video for two weeks in September, and we will explore additional outlets for this video throughout the region as a public service announcement. These success stories that I’ve highlighted today illustrate the potential for workforce development to help cities such as Rochester continue to reinvent themselves for today’s economy. We need to be vigilant in our focus on those in danger of being left behind. Too many individuals, especially in our urban centers, lack a high school diploma. For example, the Rochester City School District has a dropout rate of 25 percent, and an alarmingly low graduation rate of just 50 percent. Without a high school diploma, people are in danger of being left behind without the skills they will need to truly participate in the economy. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Succeeding in the international competition for jobs with a 50 percent graduation rate is like trying to win a boxing match with one hand tied behind your back. We must do better. While there are no easy answers, for the regional economy to thrive everyone needs to be an active participant. We need to figure out ways to re-engage those who have become detached from the workforce, or who feel like they don’t have the skills to compete in today’s challenging economic environment. In closing, Rochester is a metropolitan area in the midst of a process of transformation and reinvention.

While this process is not easy, Rochester possesses a unique set of assets that will help it succeed, and in many ways is on the cutting edge of adapting to these changes. Rochester is, in fact, becoming a leader in workforce development. Reinvention like reform can be difficult, and requires a degree of boldness. This sentiment was expressed by Rochester’s social reformer, Susan B. Anthony, who said that “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, can never bring about a reform.” Rochester is doing Susan B. Anthony proud, showing spirit and determination. Thank you for your attention, I would be happy to take a few questions. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5
But, as the paper by Fischer, Lenza, Pill and Prof. Reichlin demonstrates, the careful analysis of monetary developments in real time has helped the ECB to shape its assessment of the economic situation and the associated risks to price stability and to better identify the nature of the shocks impacting on the euro area economy. As I already said I can bear testimony that, over the past eight years, monetary analysis has helped the ECB to improve its policy decisions. At the same time, the importance attached to the monetary pillar has also signalled that the ECB’s monetary policy has an appropriate medium-term orientation. I strongly believe that this has contributed to shaping agents’ expectations in a manner which enhanced the credibility of the ECB. In this context, the third issue raised by Jürgen – namely how monetary analysis should be presented to the public – is crucial. Presenting the monetary analysis in a manner that serves to stabilise private sector long-term inflation expectations by clearly signalling the ECB’s alertness with respect to risks to price stability at longer horizons is key. Thus, it is particularly important that markets and the public at large have a good understanding of the systematic and conditional conduct of monetary policy by the central bank, so that expectations about future price developments and the path of policy rates are in line with the central bank’s mandate.

The historical fact that, at the time of the introduction of the euro, market interest rates on instruments denominated in euro all along the yield curve were to be aligned with the lowest – and not with the average – rates prevailing prior to the euro was not foreseen by many observers prior to Stage III. The historically low level of short, medium and long-term market interest rates was unthinkable in some countries, which had experienced much higher inflation in the past. In my view, the incorporation of monetary analysis into our monetary policy strategy served, in the eyes of the global market, as an anchor for expectations that in no small way contributed to our success in building and maintaining credibility. The monetary policy strategy of the ECB announced in October 1998 explicitly recognises the monetary nature of inflation by assigning an important role to money in the formulation of monetary policy decisions aimed at the maintenance of price stability. As Prof. Issing explained to us in detail, there were and still are many good reasons to do so. Milton Friedman’s famous dictum that “inflation always and everywhere is a monetary phenomenon” is one of the central tenets of economic theory.
3 It also appears that the most important driving force behind the cycle is the monetary policy conducted in large countries, particularly the United States. Free capital movement makes it more difficult to isolate a country from the rest of the world – and indirectly thereby from monetary policy in large countries – even if it has a floating exchange rate. Some go so far as to say that developments on the financial markets have meant that the exchange rate is no longer a parameter for action in the trilemma. The trilemma has instead been reduced to a choice between only two alternatives – a dilemma: either one has free capital movement and accepts that it is then difficult or impossible to conduct a monetary policy of one’s own, or one conducts one's own monetary policy but counteracts the free movement of capital. 4 My main hypothesis: countries with floating exchange rates still have monetary policy autonomy However, this is probably going a bit too far as a general description of the actual situation in small open economies like Sweden. In a globalised world, developments abroad will always have great significance for what happens in your own country. Nevertheless, however, the situation seems to be that the choice of exchange rate regime plays an important part in how great the impact will be.

7 One implication of a relatively stronger exchange rate channel may be that, in the future, it may become even more important to small, open economies. This, in turn, may entail a number of complications, as exchange rate adjustments are sometimes associated with attempts to manipulate the value of a country’s own currency and “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies. However, as I have said, this is only a hypothesis so far, and more empirical evidence is needed regarding how globalisation has affected the monetary policy transmission mechanism. The debate on how much large central banks’ actions affect monetary policy in small countries will continue, as will the general discussion of the effects of globalisation on the possibilities for monetary policy. However, at present, it seems reasonable to assume that the low global interest rate poses a greater challenge when it comes to which monetary policy can be conducted in countries such as Sweden. 6  Caceres et al. (2016) define autonomy-restricting effects of foreign interest rates as the response in the domestic interest rate above and beyond what is justified by domestic economic circumstances. They find that, with this definition, the empirical analysis indicates significantly greater monetary policy autonomy in small, open economies than more traditional estimates suggest. See also Disyatat and Rungcharoenkitkul (2015). 7  See Meier (2013) and Georgiadis and Mehl (2015).
Monetary policy operations were made more market based and active, especially after the introduction of the independent float of the exchange rate in 2001. Monetary policy has concentrated on stability, while promoting economic growth. However, monetary expansion was somewhat above the expected path in 2004. The relatively higher monetary expansion during 2004 was mainly driven by the higher expansion in credit to the private sector as well as to the public sector. Responding to these developments, the Central Bank tightened its monetary policy by raising policy rates in the fourth quarter of 2004. The policy focus was on market stability in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. Subsequently, after ensuring market stability, the Central Bank has conducted open market operations aggressively to mop up excess liquidity. The Central Bank will continue to mop up liquidity in the coming months. Monetary growth is expected to be contained to 15 per cent in 2005. Monetary policy will focus on restraining inflationary pressure. An area that has experienced rapid growth since liberalisation is the financial sector. This has not only contributed to economic growth in its own right, but has also facilitated growth in other sectors. The Central Bank has actively promoted financial sector stability and development by assisting in the deepening of markets, creation of new instruments and strengthening of the regulatory framework. Prospects and challenges The foregoing forms the background for the economic policies of the government. I would now like to highlight several challenges that have to be faced.

Sunil Mendis: Economic performance, prospects and challenges Speech by Mr Sunil Mendis, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at the Donor Conference, Kandy, 15-17 May 2005. *  *  *  Introduction Honourable Minister of Finance, representatives of the donor community and friends, Sri Lanka has achieved considerable economic progress in the past few decades. Per capita income has increased, taking Sri Lanka into the category of a low middle income country. Many years of government focus on meeting the social needs of the people have enabled Sri Lanka to achieve human development indicators well beyond countries with comparable levels of income, in fact, similar to those of more developed middle income countries. The structure of the economy has been diversified from its earlier concentration on primary agricultural commodities, making the economy more resilient to internal and external shocks. Overall macroeconomic management has been reasonably sound, although achieving a better balance has sometimes been a challenge due to external and internal shocks. However, despite these positive developments, many weaknesses remain, posing strong challenges to policy makers.
Therefore, looking ahead, acting in a firm and timely manner to ensure price stability in the medium term remains warranted. As regards fiscal policy, there is growing confirmation that the favourable cyclical developments led to better than expected budgetary outcomes in 2006 in a number of countries and in the euro area as a whole. However, updated stability programmes foresee only moderate progress with fiscal consolidation in the coming years. In this respect, some countries’ consolidation targets appear not  2  BIS Review 23/2007  fully in line with the requirements of the revised Stability and Growth Pact. Risks stem in particular from a lack of well-specified and credible measures, notably on the expenditure side of budgets. Given the favourable economic environment, the Governing Council considers it essential that procyclical policies are avoided in all euro area countries and that sufficiently ambitious fiscal consolidation efforts are made in the countries with remaining budgetary imbalances and/or high public debt outstanding. The opportunity should be seized to attain sound public finances within the programme horizons and by 2010 at the latest in all euro area countries. Fiscal consolidation that is part of a medium-term-oriented, credible and expenditure-based reform strategy would support longerterm output and employment growth and help prepare for the fiscal impact of population ageing. As regards structural reforms, the European Council will discuss the current state of, and future progress in, the implementation of the Lisbon strategy at its meeting which starts today.

To conclude I would like to stress more particularly five points. First, on the economic underpinnings, the main strategic goal of the Eurozone as well as of the European Union as a whole should be to increase substantially our growth potential. This is crucial and calls upon increasing very significantly in particular our rate of employment, our labour productivity progress and our technological and scientific basis. Second, as regards methodology, it is clear that we have to work out an appropriate concept for the actual, precise, to the point implementation of the reforms. The Lisbon agenda is excellent in terms of diagnosis. It is not associated with a precise and efficient decision making process, with a powerful delivery concept, which is absolutely indispensable. I was very encouraged to hear clearly Mr Mc Creevy stressing to the Governing Council of the ECB that the Irish Presidency will put the Lisbon agenda implementation on top of its priorities. The ECB will very warmly back initiatives of the Presidency in that domain. It is urgent. Third, as regards prioritization of structural reforms, I would personally particularly mention four points which seem to me of utmost importance in the Eurozone: Youth unemployment which is attaining unacceptable levels in some economies; unsatisfactory functioning of the Single Market in the service sector; insufficient labour productivity progress in the economy as a whole; and, lastly, consequences to be drawn from ageing in the management of the social protection schemes.
For central banks, less can mean more. Therefore, our strategy in the Czech Republic is "higher for longer", i.e. to maintain interest rates at higher levels for longer. Regarding government debt, I stated that monetary policy is at its tightest in 20 years and is slowing the economy. A problem arises if the government helps the economy with subsidies, supports and contributions at the same time. This counters our fight against inflation and the economy is not dampened as much as it should be. Therefore, the CNB must consider the following: Should we start competing with the government and dampen the economy by, for example, increasing rates? Should we further push down demand, just to have it subsequently fostered by the government with some kind of supports or subsidies? And so on ... it is a vicious circle. It would be better if both policies were anti-inflationary at the same time. Cochrane (2003) describes these  4/6  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  considerations, as does the excellent article on the subject presented by Bianchi and Melosi (2022) at the conference in Jackson Hole last year. To add to that, everything is complicated further by the first problem described above, i. e. the CNB's large balance sheet, or the huge liquidity of the banking sector.

We attribute a greater role to credit in the economy and debt, which our model previously left out. Deputy Governor Eva Zamrazilová also spoke about this at the University of Economics and Business. Deputy Governor Jan Frait also discussed this topic in his lecture at the university in Ostrava in  2/6  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  2023. Credit market developments very well combine our two main objectives – price and financial stability. Because of the transmission lag, the central bank should correctly stop raising rates before inflation peaks. The problem of this academically and practically correct approach is that people can see that inflation is still high and might think that the central bank is not determined to fight inflation because rates have stopped rising. So, I try to explain over and over again that the CNB's interest rates are already at a level that is dampening economic activity. We have the tightest monetary policy in more than twenty years and we want it to remain so for some time. The current data from money flow monitoring are as follows: The volume of new mortgages fell by 64% year on year in January–April 2023. New koruna loans to firms fell by 54% year on year in the same period. However, firms are fleeing to the euro – 47% of new loans to firms are currently in euros. Nevertheless, this channel is also gradually cooling as the ECB raises its rates. The volume of new euro loans to firms fell by 16% in January–April.