samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For securing these objectives, the Central Bank has been granted the authority for administration, supervision and regulation of the monetary, financial and payment system of Sri Lanka through actions authorized by the MLA. Therefore, we must clearly understand the scope of our mandate. The Central Bank cannot directly undertake business to provide employment or create income or construct buildings to promote financial or business centers. The Central Bank’s scope of mandate for the stability of Sri Lanka economy is essentially the regulation and supervision of monetary, financial and payment system of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the functions or activities the Central Bank carries out in its normal operations are the issue of the currency or legal tender, implementation of monetary policy, supervision of banks and financial institutions, management of an international reserve, operation of payment systems and financial related services to the Government as the Government agent. How the Central Bank carries out these functions with the help of nearly 1,500 staff is a complex and technical subject. The judiciary and legal community present today here may recall a number of court cases being heard now and judgments delivered in the past connected with certain operations of the Central Bank, because either Central Bank procedures are not prudent for safeguarding the public trust or the public ignored the scope of the mandate of the Central Bank to get involved in financial sector developments.

The Central Bank as the banker to the Government maintains accounts of the General Treasury and Government institutions and agencies. The Treasury Account, known as DST Account, is the main transaction account to handle public debt flows. In terms of the MLA, Government or Government institutions and agencies must obtain the advice of the Monetary Board on the implications if any borrowing on the monetary conditions before raising such debts. This is to ensure that Government borrowing is made with the concurrence of the Monetary Board in line with the monetary policy. Two other important agency functions are the management of Employees’ Provident Fund and administration of Exchange Control Act, both of which have evolved controversy. In the case of Employees’ Provident Fund, the Monetary Board is empowered to manage the fund including investment of surplus funds in securities the Monetary Board considers fit. I know you have heard enough on some of the EPF investments made in the recent past. Given the nature of the EPF and responsibilities of the Government, EPF funds are, I would submit meant only for safer investments. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  The Exchange Control Act is to regulate and manage foreign exchange flows of the country which is essentially a part of macroeconomic management. In economics, exchange controls are about the regulation of the quantity or volume in the foreign exchange market. Conversely, the Central Bank regulates the price or exchange rate in the market under the MLA.
Thailand is an economy where despite the big shocks from COVID-19, the downside risks to the economy remain quite limited. That is the result of our low vulnerabilities in a lot of critical areas. First, our external position: the Thai economy has a very low external vulnerability. We are very resilient to the balance-of-payment-type shocks because we have a very low level of external debt and a relatively high amount of foreign reserves relative to external debt. Recently, we have seen a weakening of the baht by about 10 percent year-to-date, which has outpaced other regional currencies. Nonetheless, the resiliency of the Thai economy and the external front remains solidly intact. The reason underpinning the weakening of the baht is due to the current account, which traditionally has been in surplus, that has swung into a deficit as a result of the contraction in tourism. Meanwhile, the size of the current account deficit relative to the amount of international reserves is not worrisome. This year, on the current account side, we have observed a current account deficit of around 9 billion US dollars. On portfolio flows, we have seen outflows from the equity markets of around 3.2 billion US dollars. At the same time, there were inflows into the bond markets of 2.2 billion US dollars. Thus, on the net of portfolio side, there were outflows of around a billion US dollars. Adding together the current account deficit of 9 billion US dollars, there have been outflows of around 10 billion US dollars year-to-date.

It was only by acquiring these skills that workers could transition to where new jobs were being created. By keeping one step ahead of the machine, technological unemployment could be avoided. A shorter, more seamless skills transition reduced the hit to workers’ incomes and lowered the risk of skills atrophy, which might otherwise cause lasting damage to employment. This social infrastructure might be called “enabling” institutions. Another set of institutions provided workers with support to cushion the hit to their finances and well-being during the painful and lengthy period of job transition. This might be financial support, in income or loans. It might be housing or shelter. Or it might be social or emotional support. This social insurance ensured that lives were underpinned, inequalities held in check and the social fabric held together. It reduced recession risk, for individuals and for societies. These might be called “insuring” institutions. 32  29  Allen (2005) documents the stagnation of real wages in Britain from 1800 to 1840. IMF (2017). 31 Allen (2009) discusses Engels’ pause in the context of the British economy from 1760 to 1913. 32 Of course, many other institutions played a role in the labour market beyond the “enabling” and “insuring” ones mentioned here. For example, the ‘Poor Laws’ in the 1800s meant that the poor had to enter workhouses with terrible conditions to receive help in the form of clothes and food.
Speech  Embargo 5 September 2019, 6.00 pm  Currencies, money and digital tokens 30th anniversary of the WWZ and VBÖ, University of Basel  Thomas J. Jordan* Chairman of the Governing Board Swiss National Bank Basel, 5 September 2019 © Swiss National Bank, Zurich, 2019 (speech given in German)  *  The speaker would like to thank Oliver Sigrist for his support in preparing this speech. He also thanks Simone Auer, Nicolas Cuche-Curti, Matthias Gubler, Christoph Hirter, Carlos Lenz and Alexander Perruchoud, as well as SNB Language Services. Page 1/7  Ladies and gentlemen It is a great pleasure, and an honour, to be invited to speak to you today, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the University of Basel’s Faculty of Business and Economics (WWZ) and the Vereinigung Basler Ökonomen (VBÖ). I congratulate you wholeheartedly on reaching this milestone. There is a long-standing and close association between the Swiss National Bank (SNB), on the one hand, and the WWZ and the University of Basel on the other. Many SNB economists were trained here and some of our staff regularly give lectures at the WWZ. I would like to thank the University of Basel and the organisers for inviting me to this special event. I am sure that the ties between our institutions will continue to be close for many years to come. For central bankers, Basel is a special place.

Our understanding of digital token money has been heavily influenced by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Cyptocurrencies are privately issued currencies denominated in their own units of account. In our illustration, we refer to money based on cryptocurrencies as ‘crypto tokens’. Digital tokens can be issued in conjunction with a private cryptocurrency denominated in its own unit of account; but they can also use an official currency as their unit of account. On the one hand there are private issuers, who claim that the value of their tokens is stable against official currencies; in our illustration we assign this type of token money to the ‘stable coins’ category. However, state institutions such as central banks can also issue digital token money – the SNB, for example, could issue a Swiss franc token. Ladies and gentlemen, as you see, digital token money can take a number of forms. It is important that we understand the characteristics and implications of these various tokens, as they could influence the SNB’s mandate. I will now set out our thoughts on this topic. Privately issued digital token money Let me start by outlining our view of cryptocurrencies, before moving on to discuss stable coins and state-issued digital tokens. We believe that cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrencybased tokens are of only limited use as payment instruments, stores of value and units of account because they are subject to major fluctuations. Crypto tokens are more like speculative investment instruments than ‘good’ money in terms of their characteristics.
8 The Chancellor’s annual remit letter sets out that the ultimate purpose of pursuing this objective is that “a strong and stable financial system supports economic growth, facilitates the provision of finance to support the expansion of the economy’s productive capacity and underpins the UK’s position as an important global financial centre”. 10  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  10  could include those that increase the efficiency of financial services, level the playing field between existing firms and new entrants, or that support the development of new products and markets. The FPC’s setting of macroprudential policy can be broadly characterised as minimising the loss function, ℒ: 𝑇  min ℒ ≡ 𝐸𝑡 {∑ 𝛽 𝑖 [𝑓(𝐺@𝑅𝑡+𝑖 ) − 𝜙𝑦𝑡+𝑖 ]} 𝜌𝑡  𝑖=0  where 𝜌𝑡 is a policy setting at time t, 𝐸𝑡 probability-weights all future states of the world conditional on information available at time t, 𝛽 is the discount factor, 𝑇 is the FPC’s time horizon, which should be thought of as representing the medium-to-long term, and 𝑓 ′ (·) < 0 and 𝑓 ′′ (·) > 0. The FPC’s primary objective is captured by the first term, 𝐺@𝑅𝑡+𝑖 , “GDP-at-risk”.9 This is the far-left tail of the forecast distribution of GDP, and is a summary measure of the impact of tail risks on the economy. GDP-at-risk can be thought of as the consequence of financial instability.10 𝐺𝐷𝑃𝑡+𝑖 is the central GDP forecast, which will over time be determined by the economy’s trend rate of growth.

That a period of relative price stability does not breed complacency? That the collective national memory is maintained? A key part of the answer can be found in the role of regimes and institutions.5 Individual policymakers and officials come and go. Intellectual ideas pop in and out of fashion. The inflation target and the MPC are the result of a long and painful search for a credible money anchor. They provide the memory to ensure that we don’t return to the inefficiency and inequity of the 70s and 80s. They provide the memory that underpins the consensus that low and stable inflation is a perquisite for economic prosperity. And they provide the memory that guards against some of the dangerous talk of late. Let me sum up this section on the twin objectives of monetary policy. The MPC has objectives for growth as well as for inflation. The current inflation targeting regime provides considerable flexibility for the MPC to support output and employment. And in recent years, the MPC has used that flexibility to the full. Indeed, some have argued excessively so. The MPC has been at the forefront in supporting growth and employment and continues to be so. But that flexibility is constrained by the discipline that monetary policy must be set in a manner consistent with inflation coming back to its target. Without that credibility, monetary policy wouldn’t have the flexibility to support the real economy.
Some of the ideas that I have just mentioned will take time to materialise. Some may need a testing ground to pilot before being scaled up. On this, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area or Qianhai could function as pilot zones in the Mainland to test new crossboundary initiatives with Hong Kong. The Wealth Management Connect is a case in point. Conclusion 21. Ladies and gentlemen, what I have presented to you is a very brief summary of our thoughts on the role of Hong Kong in promoting the international use of RMB, but even that, I am sure you will agree, is already quite a menu. And we are already actively exploring some of these policy initiatives with our Mainland counterparts. But we cannot do it all on our own. While we need to create the necessary policy headroom, the market should be the one driving the process of RMB internationalisation. The active participation of market players is critical. I would therefore warmly welcome views and suggestions from Members of TMA and its subcommittees on ways to enhance the liquidity, to expand the product diversity and to build an efficient infrastructure in order that we can further develop the role of the Hong Kong markets in the process of the internationalisation of the RMB. 22. With its 76 institutional members and over 3,000 individual members, the TMA has been providing broad-based support to foster market development in Hong Kong. We believe the HKMA and the TMA’s relationship can also be a mutually beneficial one.

Joseph Yam: The Asian Bond Fund initiative Keynote remarks by Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Global Bond Summit, Hong Kong, 14-16 November 2005. *  *  *  Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, I am very glad to have the opportunity to speak at this Global Bond Summit, all the more so because it is being held here in Hong Kong and because development of a deep and liquid bond market in Asia is a subject that is very close to my heart. 2. It has been suggested that I should talk specifically about the Asian Bond Fund (ABF) initiative. I am happy to do so not only because ABF is an important initiative for promoting the development of bond markets in the region but also because of the active involvement of the HKMA in the past three to four years in the project, including chairing the EMEAP Working Group that gave birth to it. But I cannot, of course, speak for the eleven central banks and monetary authorities comprising the EMEAP group, but only for the HKMA, and so my comments today are those of the HKMA. Asian finance 3. Let me begin at the more macro level and draw your attention to one aspect of Asian finance that has always struck me as odd, and this is how financial integration in Asia is lagging behind economic integration.
Second, we could wish for lesser volatility in markets, greater credibility of regulatory and enforcement systems, and more responsible and prudent lending standards. Third, let’s wish for much higher attention being paid by all stakeholders towards risk management, better governance practices and more relevant disclosures; and Fourth, we could wish for top priority being given by regulatory authorities, rating agencies and auditors towards risk and risk mitigation, with tough and decisive action being taken in the event of any unhealthy developments. These, in my view, would be the broad wishes, but each of these “wishes” would probably have a series of sub-wishes to expand the scope of the main wishes, and consequently many more could be added, depending on various national and international imperatives. Mr. Chairman, as with all good wishes, it is easy to wish, but a lot more difficult to make the wishes come true! Unfortunately, even the highly creative financial community will not be able to perfect some “mantras” or conjure up some suitable derivatives to make these wishes come true! Necessarily therefore, a lot of painstaking work will need to be done in order to translate these and other wishes into reality. Let me now dwell briefly on a seven point framework, which in my view, would be useful to ensure stability and integrity of the world’s financial system over the next few years. First, as a global financial community, we should establish pragmatic standards in relation to the creation and sustenance of globalized financial instruments, (particularly complex, structured finance products).

Simultaneously, it is necessary to assess the systemic risk in both, the financial system and the banking one, by constructing special indices and implementing best practices in stress-testing. In terms of completing the framework on management of emergency financial situations, importance should be given to the legal and regulatory reviewing and improvement process, the cooperation between public authorities and timely identification of various problems, particularly in systemically important institutions. The Bank of Albania has already entered in this reviewing and improvement process of the regulatory framework, on the basis of several pre-set objectives. Concluding, I would like to emphasize that the countries in our region have successfully overcome a difficult period as a consequence of the international financial crisis. However, there are numerous challenges ahead. They require an ongoing commitment of all the factors of the country’s economic and political life. The need for coordinating the actions both locally and regionally is an absolute priority. I think there are in place all the prerogatives for making this cooperation effective, honest and of mutual benefits to each country in the region. To this end, I think that the European Fund for Southeast Europe will continue to play an important role, which once again I take this opportunity to congratulate for the work it has done and the commitments it has taken for the future. Thank you! BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
While we have begun to address other areas of systemic risk, I feel the industry as a whole is just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential system-wide impact of a significant cyber-attack. This risk can be referred to as “single point of failure.” What is this? These are areas that, despite all of the work that has already been carried out, are significantly more vulnerable than others. We need to identify where they are and focus our combined efforts on understanding their systemic impact and addressing them. I want to be very clear here. I don’t think that this isn’t a regular topic of conversation among directors, executives and managers – in fact, based on discussions I’ve had with many of you, I know that it’s quite the opposite. There is a lot of discussion within firms about the topic – and there’s quite a bit of activity more broadly that suggests that many different people are talking about cyber. There are conferences on cybersecurity every week. Consultancy firms are working with the industry on how to protect against attacks. Law enforcement agencies are investigating and cracking down on attacks and those behind them. Everyone is talking about this! And, I think that’s appropriate and necessary – this is everyone’s issue. As we engage in discussions on the subject and flesh out our plans to address this risk, there are a number of topics that are key to keep in mind.

Demands from customers change, expectations from shareholders fluctuate and the regulatory landscape you work within will continue to evolve to keep pace. Constant change – and commitment to evolution – is not a choice. It is the only way to survive, stay competitive and stay safe in a complex and vulnerable world. As it relates to cybersecurity, I believe we are at a pivotal moment: we know there is an issue; we will work with you on fully understanding the scope and breadth of the risk; we will be pragmatic and add value; we are looking at this holistically; and our goal is to come out with a set of next steps that will benefit all of us, including protecting the financial system and the U.S. economy as a whole. We need to address cybersecurity before we see a catastrophic event, not analyze it afterwards. Thank you. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7
10  BIS Review 76/2009  Figure 7 Distribution of growth projection for 2009 (*) United States  -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 Jan. 08 Jan. 09  0.0  Chile  0.5  -1.3  1.0  -0.8  -0.3  May 07/Aug.08 Jan./May 09  Sep. 08 May. 09  0.2  0.7  Sep./Dic.08  (*) For the United States, minimum (maximum) point of each curve shows the difference between the lowest (highest) projection and the median. For Chile, the difference between decile 1(9) and the median. Sources: Consensus Forecasts and Economic Expectations Survey of the Central Bank of Chile. Figure 8 Consumers' and entrepreneurs' perception indexes 90  140  70  70  70  120  60  60  50  100  50  50  30  80  40  40  10  60  30  30  86  92  IPEC (1)  98  02  04  06  08  U. de Chile (2)  04  05  06  Total IMCE(3)  07  08  09  Excl. mining (4)  (1) Values above (below) 50 points indicate optimism (pessimism). Before January 2003, the index was published quarterly. From then on, its publication is monthly. (2) Index, March 2001 = 100. (3) Values above (below) 50 points indicate positive (negative) expectations. (4) Weighted average of three sector confidence indicators: manufacturing Industry, retail and construction. Sources: Adimark, Universidad de Chile and ICARE/Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.

This seemed a contradiction in terms to many countries – liberalising and opening up but at the same time developing resilience in the financial centre. But we have achieved both. We have managed the tension between liberalisation and developing resilience. I think we’ve managed it rather well. If you look at what happened during the Asian Financial Crisis and subsequently, the Global Financial Crisis, we have come out as one of the safest financial systems in the world. So that was an important third phase – liberalising and opening the financial centre but also developing further resilience. Our credibility today rests on each of these three major phases in MAS’ development and policies – from the foundational years, to the period when we reoriented monetary policy and then in the last phase, liberalising and developing further resilience of the financial centre. The credibility has added up over the years. I also want to say that MAS has become an organisation of excellence. This has particularly been due, in my opinion, to the organisational development efforts that began especially in the mid-1980s, when Mr JY Pillay came in as the Managing Director, followed in subsequent years by Mr Lee Ek Tieng. There was a great focus on organisational development from the mid-80s. It happened that both Mr Pillay and Mr Lee Ek Tieng were amongst the most senior leaders in the public sector. They led the transformation of the MAS as an organisation of people.