samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The basis for calculating income tax was expanded, rates were reduced and corporate and personal income taxation was better integrated. Distortions were remedied, bringing business and economic returns more closely into line in the case of business investment. More neutral tax rules reduced the scope for companies and industries to obtain special tax advantages. The reform contributed to solid economic growth in the 1990s and a substantial increase in government tax revenues even with appreciably lower tax rates. BIS Review 15/2010  9  But the wave of reform ebbed out before the work was completed. There is now a striking contrast in the quality of various components of our tax system. There are major weaknesses in the taxation of wealth and property. First, income and the value of various types of capital are taxed differently. The return on and value of financial capital and business capital are fully taxed. Rental income is fully taxed, while owner-occupied dwellings are exempt from a corresponding tax. Mortgage interest is tax deductible while capital gains on dwellings and the benefit of home ownership are not taxed. Housing is taxed as an asset, but not at its market value. The table shows the distortionary effects of the tax system. Housing investment is considerably more profitable than repaying debt or investing in a business. This is the case for those who pay wealth tax and for those who are not liable to wealth tax. Second, property is taxed differently across municipalities.

Svein Gjedrem: Economic perspectives Annual address by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the meeting of the Supervisory Council of Norges Bank, Oslo, 11 February 2010. *  *  *  This current global crisis had its origins in an abundant supply of credit, market participants who took steadily higher risk and a lack of oversight on the part of banks, companies and authorities. This is reminiscent of a play by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s entitled “A Bankrupt”. In a conversation between the main character, Tjælde, a businessman, and his daughter Valborg, she says that no man of honour would keep his family or his creditors in ignorance of the events that foreshadow a crisis. Her father rebukes her: 1 “… you don’t understand what a business-man’s hope is from one day to the other – always a renewed hope. That fact does not make him a swindler. He may be unduly sanguine, perhaps – a poet, if you like, who lives in a world of dreams – or he may be a real genius, who sees land ahead when no one else suspects it.” The conversation is also reminiscent of current discussions about accounting principles. Then, as now, the mark-to-market value of assets was under debate. Tjælde says: “[…] values are fluctuating things; and [a businessman] may always have in hand some venture which, though it cannot be specified, may alter the whole situation.” Valborg has little regard for ventures at creditors’ expense. She thinks accounts should be transparent.
The HKMA has also been very focused on raising the market’s awareness of LIBOR transition. We have spoken in different conferences on this topic, and also encouraged industry bodies, such as TMA, to organise seminars to explain the background and implication of LIBOR transition. All of the efforts, by us or by the industry, have a common goal – that is to reach out to a wide range of audience for their attention and get ready for this important LIBOR transition. Urgency of the LIBOR Transition 10. As we all know, time is running short, and end-2021 is fast approaching. Now, with a clear and certain timetable for LIBOR cessation, we should all work together with a sense of urgency. Although certain US dollar LIBOR settings will continue to be published until endJune 2023, this 18-month extension is intended to allow time for more legacy US dollar LIBOR contracts to mature. And, this won’t alter the fact that – LIBOR will come to an end. It is therefore vital for us to continue our preparation that is currently underway, and avoid any further build-up of LIBOR-related exposures going forward. With that in mind and to smoothen the transition process, we expect banks in Hong Kong to cease to issue new LIBOR-linked contracts by the end of this year. Development of the HKD Overnight Index Average (HONIA) Linked Market 11. As we have stepped into the fourth quarter, we will soon move into a post-LIBOR world.

With that in mind, we strongly encourage you to accelerate your transition efforts and respond swiftly to these important changes, which would no doubt bring about a substantial shift to our market activities and business practices. Above all and most importantly, we must stay committed and work together collectively, with our focus remain firmly on the common goal of ensuring a smooth and timely transition. 21. Given the limited amount of time today, I could only briefly touch on what the HKMA has been and will be doing for being the region’s sustainable financing hub. I look forward to sharing more updates and views with you on other occasions. I would also urge you to stay engaged for further benefitting from the unfolding opportunities in the sustainable financing space in Hong Kong! Thank you. 1 HKMA analysis of the volumes of Asian international green and sustainable bonds arranged in Hong Kong  4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches
Arrangements will be put in place to ensure that the platform will gather useful and relevant intelligence, including those communicated in the Chinese language. The platform would also ensure that users would feel comfortable with providing intelligence on cyber attacks without compromising proprietary information. Needless to say, access to the platform will be through secure channels with robust encryption and on a need-to-know basis. Way forward 10. Ladies and Gentlemen, having announced the launch of the CFI, the HKMA will move full steam ahead in collaboration with our partners and the stakeholders to roll out the programmes I just mentioned with the following timeline:  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  11. 4  (a)  the HKMA will issue a formal circular to all banks next week, stating clearly that it is a supervisory requirement for banks to implement the CFI;  (b)  we will at the same time conduct a three-month consultation with the banking industry on our detailed proposals on the risk-based Cyber Resilience Assessment Framework;  (c)  we will work with the HKIB and ASTRI to roll out the first training courses for cybersecurity practitioners by the end of this year; and  (d)  we will work with the HKAB and ASTRI to set up the Cyber Intelligence Sharing Platform by the end of this year. I understand that the timeline for rolling out the CFI programmes is very tight.

A crucial factor affecting the success or otherwise of the CFI is the availability of qualified and competent practitioners who can help the banks and the HKMA in the areas of risk assessment, design and implementation of the defence mechanism and the day-to-day management of cybersecurity. Unfortunately, there is a general shortage, globally, in the supply of qualified professionals in the field of cybersecurity and Hong Kong is of no exception. So the second pillar of our CFI is to develop a training and certification programme in Hong Kong so that we may have an increased supply of qualified professionals in cybersecurity going forward. I am very pleased to announce that, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB) and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), a new training and certification programme in cybersecurity will be launched. I am also very pleased to say that we are collaborating closely with CREST, the UK cybersecurity certification body, to ensure that the programme in Hong Kong is designed and benchmarked against the latest international standards in this field. I understand that Mr Ian Glover, President of CREST International, is with us today and he and Carrie Leung of HKIB will talk more about this professional development programme later on. What I would say here is that the training and certification programme in Hong Kong will offer three levels of competence: “foundation”, “practitioner” and “expert”.
This means that downside risks for household income and debt-  2  BIS Review 75/2010  servicing capacity are likely to persist and that banks could face losses for some time, although there are important differences across countries. However, on a more positive note, there are signs that the past sharp falls in house prices, together with low interest rates, have improved housing affordability. This appears to explain, at least in part, the recent turnaround in the extension of new loans to households for house purchases, shown in the Chart 4 on slide 8, although substantial differences in these patterns remain across Member States. III. Main risks identified within the euro area financial system  Let me now turn to the three main risks that we have identified within the euro area financial system. The first is the possibility of a setback to the recent recovery of bank profitability. After the sizeable net losses, which were endured by around half of the euro area large and complex banking groups (LCBGs) in late 2008, many of them returned to modest profitability during 2009. Moreover, as shown in the left-side of Chart 5 on slide 10, banks’ financial performances strengthened further in the first quarter of 2010 and all LCBGs which have reported financial results so far have shown a positive return on equity. The same pattern can be seen as regards the return on assets. The leverage ratios of LCBGs have remained broadly constant after a sharp decline in the first quarter of 2009.

Ultimately, the significance of risks for financial system stability must be judged by the probability of their materialisation in combination with their likely impact, both on the financial system and on the broader economy, in the event that they do materialise. By this criterion the two most important risks for euro area financial stability at the current juncture are, first, the possibility of concerns about the sustainability of public finances persisting or even increasing with an associated crowding-out of private investment and, second, the possibility that adverse feedback between the financial sector and public finances continues. Considering other risks, albeit less material, identified outside the euro area financial system include the possibility of vulnerabilities being revealed in non-financial corporations’ balance sheets – because of high leverage, low profitability and tight financing conditions – and the possibility of greater-than-expected household sector credit losses, if unemployment rises by more than currently expected. Within the financial system, the central scenario is for modest banking sector profitability in the short to medium term, given the prospect of continued loan losses, lasting pressure on the sector to reduce leverage and market expectations of higher funding costs (slide 16). Given this outlook, an important risk is the possibility of a set-back to the recent recovery of bank profitability and of adverse feedback with the provision of credit to the economy.
Prasarn Trairatvorakul: Living with capital flows – a delicate balancing act Speech by Mr Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the 5th Annual Euromoney Thailand Investment Forum, Living with capital flows: a delicate balancing act, Bangkok, 22 March 2011. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s an honor to speak before you today in the 5th Annual Euromoney Thailand Investment Forum. Since yesterday, you must have already heard many interesting discussions about Thailand’s prospects. Here, I would like to reaffirm that Thailand is indeed on a recovery path. Over a longer horizon, the prospects of ASEAN integration and the rise of Asia are also offering causes for optimism. As international investors, you naturally would want to participate in Thailand’s exciting prospects. Before putting more money into Thailand, however, I suspect that you would want to understand our macro-policy environment. Our recovery has been gaining momentum, and the central bank has been echoing more vigilance regarding inflationary pressures. Meanwhile, the global environment suggests that more capital is likely to flow into our economy. In this complex situation, I believe that you might want to know what the central bank’s view and stance are. Since the majority of you are in the capital markets, the focus of my talk today will be related to capital inflows. Capital inflows have always been and will continue to be welcomed into Thailand. Indeed, capital inflows have been vital for Thailand’s development.

For the past 30 years, capital inflows have helped finance our country’s productive capacities and thus helped raise the standard of living for millions of Thais. Going forward, more capital is expected to flow into the region for at least two reasons, namely, the growth differential between emerging Asia and advanced economies and the changing nature of global liquidity. On the first reason, the strong growth momentum in Asia is likely to draw in more capital. This factor is especially strong as advanced economies continue to cope with legacies from the crisis. In contrast, Asia has survived the global crisis relatively well. Recent numbers show that Asia’s growth during the past year has been driven by both external and internal demand. For this year, the momentum is expected to continue, while the rapid growth of the middle class in large Asian economies such as China and India makes the prospect of intra-regional demand even more hopeful over the longer horizon. Another development worth noting is the changing nature of global liquidity, in particular, the increase in fluidity that is likely to push capital flow into emerging Asia more easily but could also lead to easier capital flow reversals when conditions change. This rise in fluidity of global liquidity seems to have its roots, at least in part, in the macro policies of advanced economies. Specifically, large fiscal debts and quantitative easing in advanced economies help contribute to the rising fluidity.
Let me now go on to how the interest rate assumption is to be used and interpreted in connection with the monetary policy decisions. 2  BIS Review 33/2006  Communication and the interest rate path The interest rate path which the Riksbank uses in the Inflation Reports is based, as I have said, on implied forward rates, and these are calculated on the basis of interest rates on treasury bills and government bonds. The implied forward rate curve on which the forecasts are based is an average of 15 different daily implied forward rate curves. For instance, the interest rate path used in the latest Inflation Report was based on an average of the daily curves between 20 January and 9 February 2006. The reason we have chosen to use an average is because we wanted to exclude temporary movements in the implied forward rates (see Figure 1). At the same time, this means that the implied forward rate curve, as we calculate it, does not reflect market expectations about the future repo rate at a particular point in time but instead the estimated average expectation during the selected 15-day period. Despite the fact that we now base our forecasts on an interest rate assumption that is normally reasonably realistic, it is important to underline that this assumption does not necessarily coincide with the Riksbank’s own expectations about future repo rates. Our assessment of how the economy will develop can differ from that made by market participants.

Ladies and Gentleman, For Thailand to achieve the goal of long-term sustainable growth, commitments have to be made today. And, this leads to the final part of my talk. As Governor of the central bank, I am committed to pursuing price stability and financial stability to foster medium and long-term economic growth. On the financial stability side, I see that the Thai banking sector has decoupled from the direct impact of the global credit crisis. In fact, the banking sector’s exposure to CDOs was only 0.3 percent of its total assets in 2007, which was completely sold off. On non-performing loans, the net NPL level will be one of the issues that we will be addressing through second-phased financial sector master plan. As of end June 2008, net NPL of the banking sector in relation to its total credit is 3.4 percent, not a terribly high level. In addition, since the potential losses of these NPLs have already been provided for according to IAS39, the international accounting standard, the financial implication of NPLs on the banking sector’s financial standing is very small. However, reducing NPLs further should improve the banking sector’s credit rating. The master plan will also focus on improving competition and efficiency of banks, while also broadening financial access to a bigger base of clientele. After the industry-hearing, we will announce the FSMP so that market players have a clear picture of the banking sector going forward.
However, as the former president of the European Monetary Institute suggests, the crisis has changed the world for ever, bringing about significant changes in the economic, regulatory and institutional environment in which the banking industry operates. In particular, Spanish banks, similarly to their European peers, now face challenges that will require them to adapt their business models in a new environment characterised by a structural decline in profitability, a significant increase in regulatory requirements, the harmonisation of supervisory rules and practices in the framework of the banking union and the introduction of new demands by the resolution authorities. As Lamfalussy said, there are no grounds for pessimism, but this view is based essentially on the expectation that banks will be able to successfully complete the work they have started to fully restore investor, customer and general public confidence. Thank you very much. 3  Taken from the keynote speech made at the Ninth BIS Annual Conference on “The future of central banking under post-crisis mandates”, 24–25 June 2010. 8  BIS central bankers’ speeches

The availability and quality of genuine euro area statistics – i.e. those which are more than just the sum of the national data of the Member States – has improved very substantially over the last ten years. Most notably, the ECB and Eurostat now regularly and jointly release quarterly real and financial euro area accounts that are both integrated and comprehensive. And yet, I would strongly favour an improvement in the timeliness of such releases, which would then be even more useful for the ECB’s monetary policy-making. The credibility of euro area and relevant national statistics is of key importance to the ECB, and this also requires that such statistics be effectively communicated. This applies in particular to the HICP. In view of the importance to the ECB of euro area monetary, financial and external statistics, the Governing Council has endorsed a strategic vision that should further increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the compilation of these statistics by the Eurosystem. This entails even more intensive cooperation not only among the statistics departments of the NCBs and the ECB, but also between those departments and external parties such as statistical institutes, supervisors and the financial industry. I hope that the gains resulting from these synergies will then be used to close some of those gaps in the ECB’s statistics that I mentioned earlier and to improve market transparency as regards the issues that have come to the fore in the ongoing financial turmoil.
In this context, the floating exchange rate regime was introduced; the Central Bank Law has been amended and the primary objective of the Central Bank has been, for the first time in its history, defined as achieving and maintaining price stability. Together with these changes, a new economic program entitled “Strengthening the Turkish Economy-Turkey’s Transition Program” was launched in May 2001. This new program addressed the two main issues of chronic inflation and high public debt with tight monetary and fiscal policies backed up by structural reforms. In this environment, the Central Bank needed to introduce a transparent monetary policy regime with a clear nominal anchor to shape inflation expectations, as inflation inertia was the biggest problem and authorities lacked credibility. The choice of the exchange rate as a nominal anchor again was out of question: The exchange rate based stabilization program had been abandoned in total loss of confidence. The other option then could be to use monetary aggregates as a nominal anchor. However, they too were not good candidates for a couple of reasons: One, monetary targeting implicitly incorporates the inflation target as the ultimate objective of monetary policy and relies on a forward looking assessment when responding to shocks; the pure form of this regime considers only money and ignores the potential information contained in non-monetary variables. Two, the success of the monetary targeting regime relies on the two assumptions that the velocity of money is entirely predictable and inflation is solely determined by money growth.

John C Williams: Moving toward "normal" US monetary policy Remarks by Mr John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Joint Bank Indonesia-Federal Reserve Bank of New York Central Banking Forum, Nusa Dua, Indonesia, 10 October 2018. * * * Thank you and good morning. It’s a pleasure to speak at the Central Banking Forum coorganized by Bank Indonesia and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This is our second joint conference, and I am very much looking forward to the exchange of ideas and views on important economic issues affecting our regions. At the outset, I would like to thank Governor Perry and Bank Indonesia for their leadership and support in sponsoring this conference, amid what I am sure has been a very busy time with the IMF/World Bank meetings. Let me also say that our thoughts and hearts go out to everyone affected by the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami. In my remarks, I will focus on the outlook for U.S. monetary policy. The good news is that on the 10th anniversary of the worst days of the global financial crisis, the U.S. economy is doing very well. From the perspective of the Fed’s dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability, quite honestly, this is about as good as it gets. As a result, the Fed has naturally been moving toward more “normal” monetary policy.