samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
7 The so-called stock-flow (or deficit-debt) adjustment reflects all those transactions and flows that are not reflected in the deficit, but are reflected in government debt (and vice versa), in accordance with the European statistical rules, including notably the requirement to finance the acquisition of financial assets. 25  3 Medium-term challenges 3.1  The changing role of fiscal policy in the crisis: from expansion to consolidation  The pandemic is taking a high toll in terms of human life and, as I have already mentioned, the price is also high in terms of the loss of income of many households and firms. Against this background, there is a high level of agreement among political forces, social agents and economic analysts as to the need for an expansionary fiscal policy that prioritises providing support for households and safeguarding the productive system. The corollary of such a policy is, obviously, a very large impact on public finances. However, it is preferable to bear this cost as the consequences of fiscal policy failing to respond to the pandemic would have been much more severe. The recommendations of the different international organisations, and their own actions, as exemplified by the European Commission’s temporary suspension of the fiscal discipline rules, have also been in line with this consensus on the role of budgetary policy in this crisis, not only in Spain, but also in other economies.

08.06.2023  7th ICO Sustainable Bond Forum Closing remarks ICO/ Madrid Margarita Delgado Deputy Governor  First of all, thank you for the invitation to participate in this 7th ICO Sustainable Bond Market conference. I am sure that the various panels have addressed recent developments in social and green bonds and the latest innovative approaches in sustainable finance. It would be interesting to take a look at the conclusions of the first edition of this conference to see just how much progress has been made in this market; huge strides for sure. For example, through the development of new instruments to mobilise the financial resources needed to achieve a net-zero economy and the goals set by the Paris Agreement. However, I am convinced we would also find that some of the challenges are still with us today, probably including the ones I am going mention in this address. Recent evolution of sustainable bond markets Developments in sustainable finance markets have been very significant. In recent years we have seen a surge in new bonds and instruments. According to the latest Climate Finance Monitor published by the IMF:1  - After decreasing in 2022, issuance of sustainable debt in 2023 Q1, considering green bonds and loans, social bonds, sustainability bonds and sustainability linked-bonds and loans, was in line with issuance in the previous two quarters, but was lower than in 2022 Q1. It should be noted that this was at the time of the banking sector turmoil in the United States and Europe.
And, in Sweden, the Riksbank has indeed important functions in this context, both in preventing financial crises and tackling them should they occur. In addition, the ongoing parliamentary inquiry into the Riksbank will examine this matter and others in more detail, and I look forward to its conclusions with interest. My discussion today has centred on my view that monetary policy and the policy rate are better suited to focus on an inflation target – and that good conditions exist for them to continue to do so. Of course, monetary policy systems and frameworks do not last forever. But, so far, I consider that there are good reasons to keep the one we have. 14 [20]  References Andersson, Björn, Vesna Corbo and Mårten Löf (2015), ”Why has inflation been so low?”, Economic Review 2015:3, pp. 5–46. Blanchard, Olivier (2016), ”The US Phillips curve: Back to the 60s?”, Policy Brief No. PB16-1, Peterson Institute of International Economics, January. Borio, Claudio (2017), “Through the looking glass”, OMFIF City Lecture, London, 22 September. Borio, Claudio, Piti Disyatat, Mikael Juselius and Phurichai Rungcharoenkitkul (2017), “Monetary policy in the grip of a pincer movement”, paper presented at 21st Annual Conference of the Central Bank of Chile “Monetary policy and financial stability: Transmission mechanisms and policy implications”, Santiago, Chile, 16-17 November. Borio, Claudio and Philips Lowe (2002), “Asset prices, financial and monetary stability: exploring the nexus”, BIS Working Papers, no 114, July.

Perhaps the best indicator of their vigilance against money laundering is the number of reports of suspicious transactions made to the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit (JFIU). These numbers suggest that institutions are certainly improving, as both the number of reports, and the number of institutions making reports, has been increasing over time. The number of reports made to the JFIU rose from only 264 in 1992 to 4210 in 1997. Our own on-site examinations also suggest that the level of awareness, and the training of staff, is improving. So, overall, institutions are doing well. However, there is always room for improvement, and I would urge those with responsibility for this area not to relax their guard. This brings me to my concluding remarks. I started out today by talking about the important elements of a control system, and how banking supervisors assess the effectiveness of institutions’ controls. I discussed some of the common threads of recent “problem bank” cases, and the control issues they highlighted. Finally, I stressed the importance of controls in the area of money laundering prevention. While I hope this was of interest to you, and at least gave you a slightly different perspective on some familiar issues, I think I should end by saying that I certainly lay no claim to having all the answers. Please do not sit back and expect the banking supervisors to issue guidelines telling you exactly what you need to do.
From 1986, changes in the exchange rate or the prospect of changes in the exchange rate had implications for interest rates. A stable krone exchange rate was the nominal anchor. In Norway, this has been reflected in wage determination because labour cost developments among trading partner countries have been an important reference. BIS Review 11/2002  1  Exchange rates between major international currencies fluctuate widely. The US dollar has appreciated by more than 30 per cent since 1995. The German mark – the euro since January 1999 – has depreciated by about the same between 1995 and autumn 2000. The Japanese yen has been particularly volatile. Smaller countries have also experienced fairly wide exchange rate fluctuations. The Swedish krona has depreciated by more than 10 per cent since summer 2000. The Australian dollar has weakened by over 30 per cent since spring 1997. The UK, Canada and New Zealand have also experienced wide exchange rate fluctuations. The Norwegian krone exchange rate, on the other hand, has been relatively stable. 2  BIS Review 11/2002  Countries whose exports include a large component of raw materials tend to experience considerable volatility in their exchange rate. Australia is one example. Fluctuations in commodity prices entail changes in countries’ terms of trade, which measures the ratio of export to import prices. Changes in the terms of trade have an impact on the exchange rate, which in turn curbs the effects of changes in commodity prices on profitability in the business sector.

In the  BIS Review 11/2002  5  agricultural sector, the number employed may be less than 50 000 person-years. Changes in industry structure, with an increase in the number employed in services and a decrease in manufacturing, will probably reduce the role of pay increases in manufacturing as a benchmark for wage determination. Wage formation and the labour market The structure of wage and income formation, the laws and rules governing the labour market and the social safety net are the main determinants of business costs and employment. If the cost level is too high, the business sector will find it unprofitable to employ everyone who wants to work. The business sector must restructure rapidly when real wages increase sharply. Many activities will no longer be profitable and will be shut down. This could lead to higher unemployment. However, lower employment will not necessarily be reflected in unemployment figures. We may instead see a flow of discouraged workers into, for example, disability pensions, early retirement schemes or different types of adjustment packages. The extent to which these schemes are used will depend on financial incentives and entitlement thresholds. 6  BIS Review 11/2002  In many European countries unemployment has remained relatively high. By contrast, the US managed to reduce unemployment rapidly following the period of high unemployment early in the 1980s. The labour market in the US is decentralised, with local wage agreements and market-determined wages.
We recognised much earlier on that the inflation targeting framework is not well-suited to our domestic conditions as it can compound the risks of unfettered capital flows. Instead, we believed that destabilising capital flows need to be effectively managed to ensure orderly domestic conditions. It did not help that some economies even hosted illegal NDF activities that had grave spillover implications on neighbouring economies. The fact that multilateral institutions are oblivious to these damaging consequences to some of their member countries is very disquieting. A further point is the dangers that can arise when inflation targeting inappropriately shifts the burden onto monetary policy to solve problems that in reality, require much broader policy responses on the fiscal side. When much needed actions are postponed, it has important consequences for our long term growth potential. Inflation targeting framework falling under heavy scrutiny As it turns out, our choice of not conforming to the norm was not in vain. Inflation targeting is now under scrutiny as its merits are debated widely. Many of these discussions centered on the waning effectiveness of the framework and the need for additional policy instruments to make the framework effective. The sequence of events leading up to the Great Financial Crisis raised the argument that an exclusive focus on achieving the inflation target could cause policymakers to overlook other vulnerabilities, such as credit and asset price bubbles. Delivering on inflation targets itself has also presented new challenges.

However, that being said, the domestic policymaker understands best the context of the local situation that the country is facing. There should be no doubt in this. Third, policymakers must not be afraid of instituting bold policies if they are deemed necessary. This is especially important during times of stress or market failures that risk the orderly functioning of the economy and financial system. Intervention in markets should not be a knee jerk reaction. As a matter of principle, public policies should always first strive to facilitate a selfregulating free market to correct itself. However, when markets fail, it is incumbent upon the regulator to correct market failures. This ought to be the cardinal rule, especially for small and open economies with sizeable financial markets. More often than not, corrective public policy can be unpopular among the masses, but it is important to not lose sight of the bigger picture, for the greater good. Often times, short-term pain is necessary for longer-term gains. Fourth, clear and transparent communication is crucial. Policies will not be effective if the motivations and understanding between policymakers and the public are not aligned. At the end of 2016, the Bank actively sought out the feedback of industries and market participants that were affected by the financial market development measures we introduced in November 2016. This became an important source of information for us to continuously fine-tune the implementation of the measures to help those affected to better adapt to the new environment.
Being associated with money laundering can seriously undermine confidence in an individual financial institution and potentially in a financial system as a whole. We are presently seeing this demonstrated in the case of the Mexican banking system, which is embroiled in a money-laundering scandal. So what steps can a banking supervisor take to ensure that institutions are doing everything they can to protect themselves from being used for money laundering? The first thing is to make sure that the Guidelines issued to institutions are kept up-to-date as techniques and patterns of money laundering evolve, and to ensure that institutions revise their own internal guidelines accordingly. We have recently revised our Guidelines and issued them as a convenient booklet. I am pleased to say that demand for this has been high and we have issued over 5000 copies of the booklet. However, Guidelines need to be put into practice. To ensure that senior management are focused on the need for this, money-laundering controls are a regular agenda item for our prudential meetings with management. They are also a regular topic for our on-site examinations. During these examinations we review an institution’s policies and procedures, look at their records of suspicious transactions, and interview staff at random to check that they have been trained to identify suspicious transactions and to follow the appropriate procedures for account opening and customer identification. We may also commission external auditors’ reports if we think it necessary. So how do institutions in Hong Kong rate on combating money laundering?

Perhaps the best indicator of their vigilance against money laundering is the number of reports of suspicious transactions made to the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit (JFIU). These numbers suggest that institutions are certainly improving, as both the number of reports, and the number of institutions making reports, has been increasing over time. The number of reports made to the JFIU rose from only 264 in 1992 to 4210 in 1997. Our own on-site examinations also suggest that the level of awareness, and the training of staff, is improving. So, overall, institutions are doing well. However, there is always room for improvement, and I would urge those with responsibility for this area not to relax their guard. This brings me to my concluding remarks. I started out today by talking about the important elements of a control system, and how banking supervisors assess the effectiveness of institutions’ controls. I discussed some of the common threads of recent “problem bank” cases, and the control issues they highlighted. Finally, I stressed the importance of controls in the area of money laundering prevention. While I hope this was of interest to you, and at least gave you a slightly different perspective on some familiar issues, I think I should end by saying that I certainly lay no claim to having all the answers. Please do not sit back and expect the banking supervisors to issue guidelines telling you exactly what you need to do.
This forces the Riksbank systematically to consider whether there are any transitory factors that ought to be disregarded when deciding the repo rate. It also facilitates a correct evaluation of monetary policy. One risk with this arrangement is perhaps that the discussion may sometimes become rather technical and focused on details. Should or should not the index we use include a given tax change that alters inflation by one tenth of a percentage point? Continuous minor revisions of our target variable are also liable to make us less intelligible, which may ultimately render monetary policy more difficult to scrutinise. So we evidently face a difficult choice. Since the clarification, we have chosen so far to start from UND1X, which unlike the CPI excludes house mortgage interest expenditure and price effects of indirect taxes and subsidies. In addition, we present a more detailed picture of how we view certain price movements that could be regarded as transitory, for instance the recent oil price rise. There are those who argue that the Riksbank ought to disregard downward price effects from structural factors. Examples are effects on the price level from various deregulations and the increasingly strong international competition. Reasons for doing so are difficult to find. What matters is not whether a price movement is “structural” but whether it affects the path of inflation more fundamentally, that is, as a part of the inflation process. If it does, it ought to be taken into account when policy is formulated, regardless of whether its effect is downwards or upwards.

There are many sides to this. One has to do with whether monetary policy ought to allow for other matters besides inflation, for instance the real economic situation or the risk of problems that might threaten financial stability. I shall be returning to that shortly. Another is the timing of an interest rate adjustment. It is, of course, primarily the inflation forecast that guides monetary policy. But there may be room at the margin for other aspects. Normally it is a matter of whether a measure can be taken a little sooner or later than otherwise. This may be desirable to ensure that the measure is well received in the financial markets, for example. On other occasions we have prepared the general public for future decisions in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts and discussions in society. When we raised the interest rate in 1997, for instance, the decision was timed with a view to sending a clear message in advance of the wage negotiations at that time. 4. Should we take output and employment into account? Price stability is the Riksbank’s policy objective. The antecedents to the Riksbank Act state that, without prejudicing this objective, the Riksbank should also endeavour to promote other economic policy goals that the Riksdag has established, for example a favourable development of growth and employment. One reason for focussing on low inflation is that most things suggest this is a prerequisite for a favourable long-term development of growth and employment.
UNCITRAL was established by the General Assembly in 1966 with the general mandate to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade. In 1996, UNCITRAL adopted a Model Law on Electronic Commerce. The Model Law is aimed at removing legal obstacles to the use of electronic communications. Thus, the Model Law provides that information shall not be denied legal effect solely on the grounds that it is generated, sent, received or stored by electronic means, and establishes rules for when an electronic writing and signature will satisfy existing legal requirements for writings and signatures. The Model Law also provides solutions for legal issues that arise in the use of electronic communications, such as the admissibility of electronic records and the attribution of electronic communications to particular parties. UNCITRAL, along with OECD and others, has now undertaken to explore possible legal rules underpinning digital and other electronic signature systems; specifically the cross-border recognition of electronic signatures. While the United States would have preferred UNCITRAL to have extended the work of the Model Law to cover additional contracting issues, a large number of other countries supported work on digital and other electronic signatures. The United States has chosen to fully participate rather than risk the emergence of rules which, while not binding on any state, might not be as supportive of market-based commerce as the United States believes it should be, and which would carry a UN imprimatur.

Maiava Atalina Ainuu Enari: Educating individuals to manage their personal finances Opening remarks by Ms Maiava Atalina Ainuu Enari, Governor of the Central Bank of Samoa, at the MoneyPACIFIC “Money Guide” launch, Apia, 2 April 2014. *  *  *  Members of the Diplomatic Community Youth and Education Directors of the Church denominations present today Our MoneyPACIFIC partners – Kim Hailwood and Becky de Beer-Lamont Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen It is indeed an honour for me to address this gathering today, at this important milestone in the partnership of the MoneyPACIFIC project and the Central Bank of Samoa. The MoneyPACIFIC Project was established in 2007 under the umbrella of the NZ-Pacific Remittances’ Project which stands to help reduce costs of sending money within the Pacific Region, and has concurrently worked hard to lift Pacific Communities awareness of the need to prudently manage their personal finances. We have worked closely with the MoneyPACIFIC programme over the recent years and we consider them a great ally in the promotion of financial inclusion and financial literacy here in Samoa. In a moment Kim and Becky will elaborate more on the MoneyPACIFIC initiative and its latest resource but before that I would like to take a few moments to talk a little bit more on why financial literacy is important to the Central Bank of Samoa.
Philipp Hildebrand: Reflections on the gold market Speech by Mr Philipp Hildebrand, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the LBMA Conference, Montreux, 26 June 2006. *  *  *  Introduction Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you this morning. The last time a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) had the opportunity to address this audience was in June 1999, when our present Governor Jean-Pierre Roth had the difficult task to explain why the SNB intended to sell 1300 tonnes of its gold reserves. Back then, the gold market environment was quite different: the price of gold had steadily declined to USD 250/oz and there were widespread concerns in the market place that central banks were intending to liquidate a substantial part of their gold reserves. In seven years, the market has, in many ways, come full circle: the price of gold climbed to above USD 700/oz before receding below USD 600/oz, levels that were last seen in 1981. Central bank activity in the gold market is not considered as a threat anymore. The agreements of 1999 and 2004 between 15 European central banks - the so-called Washington agreements - have removed much of the uncertainty regarding central bank sales. Indeed, market rumours today are arguably more concerned about central banks buying gold than they are about central banks selling gold. As many of you know, the SNB completed its gold sales program fifteen months ago 1 .

Oil prices have increased sevenfold since 1999; industrial metals have increased threefold since 2001. Similarly, the extraordinary gold bull market at the end of the seventies occurred in the context of rising oil and commodity prices. This parallelism, however, is not perfect. The average correlation between weekly price changes of gold and oil throughout the last 20 years is a mere 0.1. For metals, the correlation with gold is slightly higher but remains below 0.2. Both correlations have varied heavily within the period; currently, they are clearly on the high side (Graph 1). Graph 1: Correlation between gold, metals and oil prices Gold - Metals (GSCI)  Gold - Oil (Brent)  0.8  0.6  0.4  0.2  0  -0.2 Correlation of weekly price changes over a 1-year period -0.4 01.01.1983  01.01.1988  01.01.1993  01.01.1998  01.01.2003  Despite similarities in price movements, the gold market has a number of distinct features relative to other commodity markets. Arguably, the most important distinction is the fact that the ratio of available supply to annual production is much higher for gold than for other commodities. A significant proportion of the estimated 160,000 tonnes of all gold worldwide available in the form of jewellery, bars, coins, etc. (sixty times the annual mine production) could be brought to market at relatively low cost.