samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
In this connection, the issuance of a standard framework for the derivation of the rate of return in Islamic banking business has an important role in addressing the information asymmetry between the Islamic banking institutions and the depositors so as to ensure depositors receive their appropriate share of returns on the investment. In addition, the issuance of the guidelines on the model financial statement for Islamic banks will provide for greater disclosure on the risk and return profiles of the different categories of deposits. This will enable depositors to obtain the true and fair assessment of the Islamic banks’ financial performance and hence, promote confidence and strengthen the competitiveness of the Islamic financial industry. Enhanced financial disclosure needs to be complemented by customer education and awareness programmes to elevate the level of financial literacy of consumers and businesses to be able to make informed financial decisions and instill market discipline amongst financial players. The launching of the Consumer Education Programme and the organization of the Islamic Banking and Takaful Week are aimed at achieving these objectives. These programmes have contributed to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the unique characteristics of Islamic banking and finance, Islamic financial products and services and their underlying Shariah principles and concepts.

This double whammy effect, attributed to the narrowness of the Swiss franc market, was highly penalizing for our export sector. Since the introduction of the euro however, this pattern is no longer observed. Thus, the evolution of the Swiss franc sticks closer to our economic fundamentals. I will address this issue more extensively later on and argue that this trend can be generalized to apply to other currencies as well. b)  The euro as a means of payment  Those who thought that the euro would make the Swiss franc obsolete as a means of payment were also mistaken. True, our ATM machines have been adapted to provide euro banknotes, so that it is now possible to pay in euro almost everywhere in Switzerland. Yet, despite these efforts, the demand for euro notes is still weak and those notes do not circulate any more extensively than French francs, Italian lira and German marks used to. In stores and restaurants, prices denominated in euros are usually not very attractive. Obviously, small shop and café owners are not thrilled by the idea of  2  BIS Review 70/2004  accepting cash payments in euros. Anyway, they cannot offer as good financial services as commercial banks or credit card companies! c)  Monetary autonomy  The last fear we had was related to the potential loss of monetary autonomy. Could Switzerland, a country completely surrounded by the euro zone, possibly hope to implement an interest rate policy different from the one of the European Central Bank?
6 The Bank of England set out in its July 2019 FSR its intention to test the UK financial system’s resilience to the physical and transition risks of climate change. It will gather views on the design of the exercise and, as a first step, will publish a discussion paper in autumn 2019. More information available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/financial-stability-report/2019/july-2019.pdf. 3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  3  Such “tilt” investment strategies, which overweight high environmental, social and governance (ESG) stocks, and “momentum” investment strategies, which focus on companies that have improved their ESG rating, have outperformed global benchmarks for close to a decade.7 The mainstreaming of such strategies and the tools to pursue them are essential. At present, one of the biggest hurdles to doing so is the inconsistent measurement of ESG. We need a common taxonomy to help financial markets rigorously identify environmental outperformance and to direct investment accordingly. The EU’s Green Taxonomy and the Green Bond Standard are good starts, but they are binary (dark green or brown). Mainstreaming sustainable investing will require a richer taxonomy – 50 shades of green. One promising option, highlighted in this week’s initiative of UN’s Climate Financial Leaders, is the development of transition indices composed of corporations in high-carbon sectors that have adopted lowcarbon strategies.8 Such approaches are essential for our citizens to make sure their money is invested in line with their values.

Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Raising awareness of financial knowledge in Malaysia Welcoming remarks by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at Karnival Kewangan 2017, Kuala Lumpur, 13 January 2017. * * * It is my honour to be here this morning for the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Finance Carnival. The carnival is an initiative formed through the collaboration of various ministries, agencies and financial institutions. It aspires to raise the level of public awareness in three important areas: financial services; knowledge of financial management; and consumer protection. I would like to extend my appreciation to Yang Berhormat Datuk Johari bin Abdul Ghani, Second Finance Minister, who has graciously agreed to join us today in officiating the Carnival. Finance has the power to transform lives The pursuit of financial knowledge is a key economic imperative. It also has the ability to transform lives. In today’s world, the ability and knowledge to save, invest and borrow are essential life skills, be it for individuals or businesses. For businesses, including small enterprises, financial knowledge is particularly important in generating income and to secure financing. Various efforts have been undertaken to improve financial inclusion in Malaysia. The results so far are promising. Currently, the majority of Malaysians (over 90 percent) have access to formal financial services. 92% of adults have a savings account, while 98% of users have performing financing accounts.
30  By changing the distribution of income, the global integration of labour markets may also lower global R*. The changes in relative wages in advanced economies have shifted income towards skilled workers, who have a relatively higher propensity to save. Rising incomes in emerging market economies may be reinforcing that effect as saving rates are structurally higher in emerging market economies, reflecting a variety of factors including different social safety regimes. 31  The high mobility of capital across borders means that returns to capital will move closely together across countries, with any marked divergences arbitraged. 32  As a consequence, global factors are the main drivers of domestic long-run real rates at both high and low frequencies (Charts 9 and 10). For example, Bank of England analysis suggests that about 75% of the  29  Lisack, N, Sajedi, R and Thwaites, G, ‘Demographics and the real interest rate’, forthcoming. Although retirees dis-save, they also tend to retain relatively high wealth during their retirement, so as the share of the population in retirement increases the stock of savings will remain elevated even as the flow of savings falls. 31 As Ben Bernanke noted, a ‘savings glut’ from emerging economies developed in the run-up to the crisis (see remarks on ‘The Global saving glut and the US current account deficit’, 10 March 2005).

This is well exemplified by the recent emphasis on the need for regular stress testing to understand the effects of shocks on the solvency of individual banks, the stability of the entire financial system, the broader economy and, more importantly, the feedback effects. The roles of granular statistics and sound stress testing methodologies have become vital. While the recent global financial crisis has necessitated a substantial policy focus to address short-term challenges, policymakers also need to keep sight of the economy’s long-term vision. Continuous structural reforms are needed to strengthen fundamentals and improve economic resilience. This involves measures to remove structural bottlenecks, improve productivity and promote innovation and enhance competitiveness. Formulating such structural policies to improve growth prospects hinges on rigorous empirical research in these areas. For Malaysia, the economy is currently undergoing a transition towards becoming a higher value added economy. This has involved setting clear, time-bound and measurable targets, to allow for the policy approach to be focused. This has depended heavily on the availability of good data and statistics that capture developments across all sectors. It also enables us for the monitoring of the progress and the effectiveness of the policies. It is also now widely recognised that economic growth can only be sustainable if it is inclusive. Growth will only slow as income disparities widen. It is also recognised that financial inclusion is an important contributor towards achieving such a more inclusive economic development.
Sir Leslie’s early years at the Commonwealth Bank were spent dealing with the Great Depression, one of the great pathologies of economic history. I joined the Bank of England from academia a little over a decade ago. While my first seven years turned out to be an unusually tranquil period for the economy, the past four years have been anything but. So tonight, I thought I would discuss some of the lessons that I think central banks should draw from the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–8 and the subsequent Great Recession. The distinctive feature of a central bank derives from its role as the monopoly supplier of outside money, comprising notes and coin and commercial banks’ reserve deposits. These constitute the ultimate settlement asset for an economy and mean that a central bank has a unique ability to create or destroy liquidity through the use of its balance sheet. The primary objective is to ensure that the supply of that liquidity is consistent with the smooth functioning of the real economy. From this follows the two core tasks of a central bank: the maintenance of broad stability in the price level, nowadays often enshrined in a formal numerical target for inflation; and supporting the process of financial intermediation during times of stress, including acting as Lender of Last Resort to solvent, though temporarily illiquid, financial institutions. Of course, central banks sometimes carry out other tasks too. The Bank of England, for instance, manages the government’s foreign exchange reserves and used to manage our national debt.

We already acknowledged the benefits from all specific measures implemented during the crisis, but we should be aware of their transitory role and the need to get back to the standard policy tools. Of course, the signs of current recovery are pointing to different stages of the normalization path and therefore, this reversal in the policy settings will differ from country to country. The new threat of deflation in the advanced economies is yet another potential obstacle in this reversal. From this point, that is already a challenging one, the next big challenge will be to return to a solid and sustainable growth. During this crisis, we experienced a lot and we learnt a lot. A number of weaknesses, mainly in the financial and fiscal areas, have been detected and addressed. Anyway, with the first signs of economic recovery, not everything has been fixed yet. There is still a need to repair banks’ balance sheets, to squeeze central banks’ balance sheets, to restore market confidence and to strengthen public debt management. The prolonged period of low interest rates has created a room for fiscal expansion and public debt increase, but the fiscal authorities must be aware that the end of this period is just about to come. The regulatory and institutional reforms undertaken in the last years should contribute to the soundness and stability of the financial systems. What has been done in this field in the last years should be fruitful on a longer horizon.
However, less than 5% of the losses were insured, compared to 40% in developed countries2. Over the last five years, the region experienced a series of high-profile and very painful disasters such as the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, floods in Thailand, and the Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Losses from these three disasters are estimated to be close to USD 360 billion3, about the average GDP of the Philippines and Thailand in 2012. As these economies were underinsured, the bulk of the financial burden was ultimately borne by the governments. 4. The development of catastrophe risk management in Asia is still at a nascent stage, compared to more mature markets in the US and Europe. Yet Asia is expected to continue to experience a rise in natural catastrophe losses, as a result of climate change, and rapid population growth, urbanization as well as economic concentration in heavily exposed regions. So With this confluence of factors, the financial burden from natural catastrophes is expected to intensify. 1  “Source: EM-DAT – The International Disaster Database”. 2  “Risk Financing is Key to Building Resilience Against Disasters – Study”, ABD, 31 January 2013. 3  “Based on Swiss Re and Aon Benfield’s estimates”. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Minding the protection gap in natural catastrophe risk management 5. Going forward, governments can no longer act as the “insurer of last resort”.

The effects of this angst are already showing up in the investment numbers. An additional fly in the ointment, if you will, is the recently released downward revision for GDP growth covering last year and an announced estimate of a sizable downward revision to payroll employment. One implication of these revisions is that the economy’s underlying momentum was already somewhat less robust than previously thought, even before recent developments pointed to a less rosy outlook. The Path Forward So what will the response from the Fed be to all of these developments? Our role is to navigate a complex and at times ambiguous outlook to keep the economy growing and strong. As events unfold and conditions evolve, it’s critical we understand which developments are mere bumps in the road and those that will affect the outlook in a material way over the longer term. That means maintaining a data-dependent approach that takes into account the risks and uncertainty that are weighing on the economy. I will continue to consult everything from very granular data about individuals’ experiences of employment conditions, through to the macro projections for global growth. We need to consider all of the information available and be flexible in our response. Conclusion Low inflation is indeed the problem of this era. The current outlook of moderate growth, low unemployment, but stubbornly low inflation is a reflection of the broader economic picture—the July rate adjustment an appropriate response to ease financial conditions and support the economy.
Christian Noyer: “Noyer heralds new era for eurozone and for France” – Interview in Euroweek Interview with Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, in Euroweek “France in the Capital Markets”, 25 February 2013. *  *  *  EUROWEEK: You were frequently quoted in 2012 as saying that the eurozone was moving in the right direction. Do you feel vindicated by the recent strength of the euro and the performance of the eurozone’s financial markets? Noyer: Things have clearly improved, but this should not come as a surprise. It’s clear that markets lagged a bit before taking stock of what has happened, but looking back, enormous progress has already been made on all levels. This is true in terms of policies aimed at the restoration of sound public finances in many, if not all, eurozone countries as well as in the field of structural reforms. For example, we have seen very extensive progress in areas like pension reforms in France and Italy, banking reform in Spain and labour market reforms across much of southern Europe and France. We have also seen great progress in terms of surveillance – not just surveillance of fiscal policies, which is a must in the context of the European monetary union, but also surveillance of competitiveness which is the basis for structural reforms.

As a result, central banks tend to prefer a monetary policy strategy that lies somewhere between these two extremes, avoiding excessively large interest rate adjustments but not hesitating to adjust when this is called for. The Riksbank normally formulates monetary policy with a view to inflation one to two years ahead. This unfortunately means that the repo rate has to be set with the aid of forecasts and forecasts can err. Moreover, there is always the possibility of price shocks that are a-cyclical but still affect the rate of inflation. A forward-looking policy has the advantage, however, of permitting an implementation that is smoother yet firm. The Riksbank reacts to the inflation forecasts in a determined manner but as the forecasts include an assessment of the extent to which inflationary impulses are transient, over-reactions are avoided. The supply shocks I referred to earlier as having occurred during the past year are examples of price fluctuations that, with the monetary policy strategy the Riksbank has chosen, can occasion deviations from the inflation target. This is not the first time inflation has been affected by occasional factors. In the late 1990s, for example, successive deregulations of electricity and telecom markets resulted in deviations from the target, the difference being that at that time the gap was on the downside. What has happened now is the opposite. With our monetary policy strategy, this is a natural case of striking a reasonable balance between maintaining the fixed value of money and avoiding excessively large fluctuations in economic activity.
To achieve this goal without hampering long-term economic growth, the composition of the fiscal adjustment is very relevant. Moreover, the combination of this consolidation efforts with other structural reforms on which I will focus later might be crucial in order to smooth and reduce the public finances adjustment needs. In addition, given the high degree of decentralisation of public spending in Spain, all government decision centres must contribute to this effort. To this end, it is crucial to provide efficient mechanisms to finance the different competences, permitting citizens to identify the bodies responsible for implementing the different public policies. On a related matter, let me mention that the adequate access to external financing by regional governments – be it by credit provided by financial institutions or through the capital markets – is of particular importance to avoid a pro-cyclical stance in the provision of the public services, and guarantee market pressure geared towards fiscal discipline. Currently, an exceptional mechanism is in place, namely the “Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica”, whereby the central government provides funds to most regions, in the form of bilateral loans, in exchange for a heightened control over their fiscal policies. However, in the current favourable macroeconomic and financial context, regions should regain market access. Challenges of the Spanish labour market The second session of the Conference is devoted to the challenges facing the Spanish labour market. During the last three years, the annual growth rate of employment has been 3.0%.

Several antecedents point to investment significantly outperforming our September estimate, including important upward revisions in the Corporation of Capital Goods’ (CBC) Project Survey, the behavior of capital goods imports, the evolution of more expansionary conditions of credit supply and demand (Bank Credit Survey) and qualitative information from our Business Perceptions Report (IPN). Thus, for 2019, our gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) growth forecast rises to 6% (4.5% in September), and for 2020 the near 4% figures are maintained. The case of mining investment is analyzed in detail in Box III.2 of the Report. According to the latest survey of the CBC—released in mid-October—for the period 2018-2021 investment expenditure of the mining projects it covers went from about 5.40 billion dollars to 10.60 billion. The greatest differences are concentrated in the years 2019 and 2020, when the surveyed investment is about 3.5 billion dollars higher than previously expected. This leap is the result of including a small number of projects that have advanced in their realization, but whose scope causes ripple effects in the baseline scenario. For 2018, where the incremental effect of the new survey is more limited, it is expected that Mining GFCF will increase 18% annually (just over 3 percentage points more than projected in September). For 2019, its annual expansion rate is revised from 7% in the September Report to 16% in our current estimate.
Luis M Linde: Presentation of the Bank of Spain’s Annual Report for 2014 Testimony by Mr Luis M Linde, Governor of the Bank of Spain, before the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs and Competitiveness, Madrid, 24 June 2015. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, I appear before this Committee on the occasion of the presentation of the Banco de España Annual Report for 2014. Let me begin by reviewing developments in the Spanish economy, the factors underpinning its recovery and the economic policy challenges of strengthening recovery. I shall then address aspects relating to the start-up of the Banking Union and the situation of, and outlook for, the Spanish banking system. Economic situation and outlook In mid-2013, the Spanish economy initiated a recovery phase that firmed last year and has continued to do so in 2015 to date. In 2014, GDP grew at a rate of 1.4% while employment did so at 1.2%, the first positive figure since the start of the crisis. In its Quarterly Report to be published tomorrow, the Banco de España will present a new set of macroeconomic projections. According to these, the Spanish economy will grow at a rate of 3.1% on average in 2015, an upward revision of 0.3 pp on the projections published in March. On the basis of this change, activity is performing better than projected three months back.

As we have already stated, consumption and investments continue to suffer from low confidence and tight lending terms. Fiscal policy is faced with a high public debt level, which has limited the possibilities for macroeconomic stimulus. On the other hand, the external environment was characterised by ongoing euro-area problems, hence limiting our export growth and making financial markets pursue conservative policies in terms of lending to developing economies. However, 2013 saw positive developments. Financial markets were characterised by improved liquidity and downward interest rates, in response to Bank of Albania's easing monetary policy. Also, introducing new financial agents and instruments has further deepened these markets. The banking system remains solid and well- capitalised, regardless of increase in non-performing loans. The current account deficit has dropped, creating better premises for a sustainable external position of the economy and stable exchange rate. These developments have contributed to maintaining macroeconomic stability. Analysing the specific developments in the second half of 2013, the official data show a slowing economic activity and a sustained downtrend in inflation. Average annual inflation reached 1.5% in the fourth quarter, remaining unchanged from the third quarter. In December, inflation rate edged up to 1.9%, almost entirely due to higher prices of foods, particularly unprocessed foods. Prices of other CPI basket items were generally stable and affected slightly on inflation. From the macroeconomic viewpoint, the low inflation rate was determined by the sluggish aggregate demand, lower imported inflation and subdued inflation trends.