samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Gent Sejko: Albanian economic progress in 2018 and banking industry challenges for 2019 Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the year-end function organised by the Albanian Association of Banks, Tirana, 13 December 2018. * * * Honourable AAB Chairman, Your Excellency, Minister of Finance and Economy, Dear senior representatives and colleagues from the banking system in Albania, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a special pleasure for me to participate and address this year-end function organised by the Albanian Association of Banks. In my brief address, I would like to bring to your attention some highlights of 2018, regarding the contribution of the banking sector and the financial system, as well as some milestones set for 2019. Let me first focus on the overall performance of the Albanian economy. The overall performance of the Albanian economy in 2018 was positive. Economic recovery is tangible across all of its dimensions. The pace of growth picked up, employment increased, internal and external balances were strengthened, while the main indicators of the banking sector’s soundness have been improving. It is encouraging to see that the sources of economic growth are both increasing and well diversified. From the aggregate demand perspective, growth in the exports of goods and services and in the domestic consumption and investments continued to underpin economic growth. In the meantime, from a sectorial perspective, economic activity expanded, reflecting a more notable contribution from output in the industry sector and the services sector.

The direct role pertains to the further development of the banking market and products – in line with the best international experiences. Likewise, insistent work on further reducing the level of non-performing loans should not be neglected, and should be considered by all of us as a key factor for further strengthening financial stability in Albania and providing an impetus to the economy. On the other hand, the indirect role consists in the cooperation that you may offer to many structural reforms across all the sectors of the economy and in all the dimensions of the business setting. Your expertise is not insignificant. It must assume an authoritative place in the economic debate. Third, while acclaiming the cooperation between the Bank of Albania and the Albanian Association of Banks and commercial banks in educational activities, I would also like to iterate the importance of financial education and financial inclusion. As financial services and products develop and become more complicated, financial education helps users to understand and use them; it also helps preventing financial crisis and contributes to the financial stability and economic growth of a country. We need to continue to be key promoters in designing and implementing financial education programmes. Financial education is an investment in the future and it should be an integral part of our agendas, engaging more intensively in the implementation of alternative and innovative methods for enhancing financial education among the public.
The subprime problem was primarily a US problem, but since the loans had been sold to others outside the United States the turmoil had a global effect right from the start. Since no one really knew where the losses would turn up, a situation quickly arose in which banks and other financial institutions became cautious about lending money to each other. They began to hoard liquidity to meet their own obligations and to deal with any speculations that they were affected by the subprime problems. As a result the conditions for interbank lending deteriorated, causing market interest rates to soar. In this situation several central banks chose to act by injecting liquidity into the interbank market. This intervention achieved the desired effect in part, but did not eliminate the mutual distrust among banks. Northern Rock, one of the first casualties of the crisis, became well aware of this situation in September last year when it could no longer find private financing. It turned instead to the Bank of England – and as we all know, the story ended when, following a complicated process, the British government nationalised Northern Rock. The turbulence deepens Now the turmoil was not just related to the US subprime market. More and more assets and markets became affected when even borrowers with better credit ratings were hit. Nor were the problems just a matter of inadequate creditworthiness of US borrowers any more, as the ability of European borrowers to pay now came into question.

An important similarity with the other measure, however, is that the liquidity that was injected via Kaupthing into the system also comes back to the Riksbank in the form of deposits from the bank(s) that have excess liquidity. In this way this measure does not have any direct monetary policy effects either. The common denominator for everything the Riksbank has done to date is that all measures are aimed at strengthening liquidity conditions within the Swedish financial system. Unlike many other countries, thus far it has not been necessary for the Swedish authorities to provide the banks with any form of capital support from the government. This point is also important. However, it remains to be seen whether the Riksbank and other authorities have done enough. How the situation develops in the future is essentially a question of what happens outside of Sweden. Nevertheless, the Swedish authorities are prepared to take those measures that are necessary to ensure financial stability. For the Riksbank, this means that we will continue to provide the banks with the liquidity required for the financial system to function. Let me now proceed to discuss paths out of the crisis. Paths out of the crisis We are now in the middle of the most serious financial turmoil that the world has seen in a very long time. It is difficult to anticipate how the situation will develop in the future, which means that it is also difficult to talk about paths out of the crisis.
The economic growth rate of Albania has been throughout this period higher than the one of other Southeastern European countries or even the one of the countries being recently members of the European Union. The activity conducted by the Albanian economy, as a relatively open economy, was fuelled by the invigoration on a world-wide scale of the economic activity throughout 2004. A slow but a safe growth of the European economy experienced over 2004 has been a positive factor for the Albanian economy, fostering the demand for our exports and sustaining the rise of remittances inflow in foreign currency from emigrants. The average inflation rate of the euro area has been around 2.4 percent over this year, without exerting any influence on the rise of the imported inflation rate in Albania. Simultaneously, the impact of shocks on the world economy during 2004 resulted to be smoother in the Albanian economy. Oil price rise in the international market was amortised partially due to Lek appreciation and partially due to the rising competitiveness and the emerging of a certain flexibility of demand for this product. The impact of oil price rise on the inflation rate in the country has been restricted. Also, its impact on the Albanian economy, though hard to be measured, is believed to have been rather a smooth one according to the estimations on the performance of the most exposed sectors to oil price, the transport and industry. Exchange rates have been fluctuating over 2004.

Yiu-kwan Choi: Launch of the CMU Bond Price Bulletin Remarks by Mr Yiu-kwan Choi, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Signing Ceremony for the Launch of CMU Bond Price Bulletin, Hong Kong, 9 January 2006. *  *  *  It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this signing ceremony for the launch of the CMU Bond Price Bulletin. We are pleased to see the launch of the Bulletin. This, we believe, will be a useful tool to help promote the retail bond market in Hong Kong. As you know, financial infrastructure development has always been a priority item on the HKMA's policy agenda. A robust financial infrastructure is important in maintaining the stability and integrity of the monetary and financial systems and in strengthening Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre. Over the years, we are proud that, with the support of banks and other financial institutions, the HKMA has built a sophisticated financial infrastructure that meets the best international standards. Having said that, we are conscious that there is always scope to further strengthen our financial infrastructure to take account of the latest technology and market developments. It was precisely for this reason that the HKMA conducted a comprehensive review last year on financial infrastructure development in Hong Kong. The launch of the Bulletin is one of the recommendations arising from this review. The objective is to provide retail investors with convenient on-line access to information on bond products and bond prices.
These figures are similar to those presented in previous years, reflecting that the Board has not changed its view on the medium-term productive capacity of the Chilean economy. However, we cannot ignore the fact that, because in recent years the growth rates of investment and productivity have been below their trend levels, short-term productive capacity has suffered. Actually, the Board estimates that the potential growth of the economy is now around 2.5%, a little short of previous estimates. Adjustments to the monetary policy making process Another area where we are making progress is in the transparency and communication of our monetary policy decisions. The Bank conducts its monetary policy in an inflation targeting framework, which, to function correctly needs to properly communicate its actions and the reasons behind them, as well as a good diagnosis of the evolution of the economy, locally and internationally. The adoption of these decisions and their communication are structured around the Monetary Policy Meetings and the Monetary Policy Report, whose organization, priority, content and dissemination are currently based on procedures and standards that were mostly established in the first half of the 2000s. After a thorough internal assessment based on accumulated experience and international best practices, the Bank Board has decided to make some modifications to its monetary policy decision-making and communication process. Essentially, the number of Monetary Policy Meetings (MPM) is reduced from twelve to eight per year, to align them with the most common practice among the central banks of low-inflation countries (figure 14).

(2) The Norges Bank announced in May 2017 that it will increase the frequency of its meetings from six to eight per year beginning in 2018. Source: Central Bank of Chile based on information from the respective central banks. Table 4 Adjustments to monetary policy process Current Official MPM* communication Brief summary of economic scenario  Official MPM communication  (end of each MPM)  (end of each MPM)  Monetary policy decision  New Main economic background developments Monetary policy decision and explanation Voting outcome  Background minutes (1 day before MPM)  MPM charts (1 day after MPM)  Review of evolution of local and world economy MPM minutes based on public information known since previous MPM (11 bank working days later)  Main charts presented by the staff to the Board at MPM  MPM minutes  Voting outcome  (11 bank working days later)  Options presented by Research Division Summary of discussion  MPM transcript  Detail of opinions of each Board member and the MPM transcript Finance Minister (10 years later)  (reserved)  Main charts presented by the staff to the Board at MPM Review of evolution of local and world economy based on public information known since previous MPM Options examined by the Board Arguments for and against monetary policy options considered  Detail of opinions of each Board member and the Finance Minister  *MPM = monetary policy meeting. Source: Central Bank of Chile. 21
The government’s aim is not to depress property prices but to promote a stable and 6 / 11  BIS central bankers' speeches  sustainable market. The government does not have a target rate of increase for property prices nor can it manage the cycle too tightly. But the government does have a role to help ensure that price movements are broadly consistent with economic fundamentals. In an economy that is growing in nominal terms at 3-5%, it is not sustainable to have property prices increasing at double-digits. The government will continue to monitor the property market closely and stands ready to help ensure a healthy and sustainable market. MAS’ FINANCIAL OPERATIONS Let me now move on to MAS’ financial operations. I will start with: how MAS has been accumulating Official Foreign Reserves (OFR); and why MAS decided to transfer part of its OFR to the Government; before touching on MAS’ financial performance and return of profit to Government. MAS has been steadily accumulating OFR, especially since the Global Financial Crisis. Most of the period since the Global Financial Crisis was characterised by extremely loose monetary policies in the advanced economies, with interest rates near zero and massive expansion of central banks’ balance sheets. This led to a surfeit of liquidity in the global financial system and large capital flows to many emerging market economies. As an economy with very sound fundamentals, Singapore naturally attracted quite a large portion of these capital flows, which exerted sustained and large appreciating pressures on our exchange rate.

Thank you. BIS Review 19/2010  3
Consumers get lower prices and new product varieties, and, over time, benefit from the spur to innovate and higher productivity. Some workers, however, lose their jobs and the dignity of work, or see their “factor prices” – in plain English, wages – equalised downwards. Such dynamics have been recognised by trade theory for over 75 years. xvi  And they are felt by those at  either end of the great convergence. Survey evidence shows that 70% of Chinese workers believe that trade creates jobs and increases wages, equivocal. xvii  US households think the opposite, and UK public opinion is  xviii  People’s attitudes towards trade shocks are being hardened by the effects of accelerating technological innovation. As my colleague Andy Haldane has explained, up to 15 million of the current jobs in Britain could be automated over time. xix  The fundamental challenge is that, alongside its great benefits, every technological revolution mercilessly destroys jobs and livelihoods – and therefore identities – well before the new ones emerge. This was true of the eclipse of agriculture and cottage industry by the industrial revolution, the displacement of manufacturing by the service economy, and now the hollowing out of many of those middle-class services jobs through machine learning and global sourcing. The combination of open markets and technology means that returns in a globalised world amplifies the rewards of the superstar and the lucky. Now may be the time of the famous or fortunate, but what of the frustrated and frightened?

I say this in my capacity as a totally independent central banker: the new government in France is taking reforms very seriously and is acting with impressive speed. France is now a reliable economic partner of Europe and Germany. Second, it would be ridiculous to reduce the debate to the old caricature that contrasts "German rules” with “French expenditure". To my mind, it is out of the question to implement a “transfer union”, which would only benefit certain countries, or to introduce Eurobonds, which would amount to collectivising debts. Need I remind that France too is a net contributor to the European budget, or to financing for Greece? But I am convinced that risk sharing between 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  countries can – and should – go hand-in-hand with risk reduction mechanisms. It is wrong to draw a distinction between solidarity and responsibility: in reality, they are complementary. For crisis prevention to be credible, it must also have the instruments needed to cushion the effects of substantial shocks that may arise regardless. As for the third cliché, let’s stop pitting the "French vision” against “German pragmatism". In order to reform the euro area, we must be practical and take real needs, and particularly those of businesses and entrepreneurs, as our starting point – as I aim to do in the second part of my speech.
Stefan Ingves: Cash management - an important social issue Speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, to the first meeting at the Sveriges Riksbank of the cash management advisory board, Stockholm, 26 April 2006. *  *  *  I would like to welcome you all to the first meeting of the new cash management advisory board. All of you sitting at this table are in some way concerned with cash management in the economy: banks, cash-in-transit companies, representatives of the retail trade, trade unions and authorities such as Finansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority), the police and the Swedish Work Environment Agency. My hope is that the advisory board will function as a forum for identifying and discussing issues in the field of cash management. The idea is that we should meet once or twice a year, and I look forward to fruitful discussions. Before opening the debate, I would like to mention two questions that I believe can form a starting point for our discussions: •  The process of change undergone by cash management in recent years and the new structure for cash management that the Riksbank is establishing together with the banks. •  The social problem comprised by the many and increasingly violent robberies of cash transports. Towards a more expedient structure for cash management One of the Riksbank’s tasks is to promote a safe and efficient payment system, and we are responsible for issuing banknotes and coins.

Going forward, each country needs to be analyzed more as individual stories. Ladies and gentlemen, Emerging market countries are at a critical juncture. Much has been accomplished, and much potential remains. This is the key transition point. How successfully a nation manages this transition will depend primarily on domestic factors. Specifically, its ability to instigate structural change and implement institutional reforms. I believe that big strides can be achieved if we can push through our individual glass ceilings. But I am also realistic that realizing this potential and coordinating societies on the good outcome will be enormously challenging. To move forward, there needs to be a collective change of attitudes and mindsets – particularly towards things like corruption, good governance, and consideration for the public good. Here there is good news and bad news. On the positive side, mindsets and attitudes are things within our control. The bad news is that changing attitudes and mindsets is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do. As Leo Tolstoy once wrote “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” For many of you here who will go on to serve in public policy, I urge you to embrace this challenge and give you my wholehearted support. Today is a legacy of the past, but history is not destiny. You can make a difference and we need more people who devote themselves to do so. Thank you very much for your attention. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
Change in consumption relative to income among mortgagors with different mortgage loan to income ratios between 2007 (a)(b)(c)  and 2009 Total credit to UK real economy (a)  Lending to UK real economy from UK MFIs (b)  Percentage changes on a year earlier  Percentage point change in consumption to income ratio  0  20  Nominal GDP growth rate  -5  15 -10  10 -15  5 -20  0 -25  -5 2000 00  02  04  06  08  10  12  14  0 to 1  1 to 2  2 to 3  3 to 4  ≥4  16 Mortgage LTI ratio  Sources: Bank of England, Office for National Statistics and Bank calculations. (a) Twelve-month growth rate of nominal credit. Credit is defined here as debt claims on the UK private non-financial sector. This includes all liabilities of the household and notfor-profit sector and private non-financial corporations’ (PNFCs) loans and debt securities excluding derivatives, direct investment loans and loans secured on dwellings. (b) Sterling M4 lending by UK MFIs to the household sector and PNFCs. Data cover loans and MFIs’ holdings of securities. Seasonally adjusted. Sources: Living Costs and Food (LCF) Survey, ONS and Bank calculations. (a) Change in average non-housing consumption as a share of average post-tax income (net of mortgage interest payments) among households in each mortgage LTI category between 2007 and 2009.

Even after those losses, the system would have a capital base more than twice as strong as it had before the financial crisis (Chart 19). Losses on consumer debt were an important driver of the test results. 20% of their consumer loans went bad in the test, costing them £ and adding to mortgage losses of £ (Chart 20). Very sharp falls in used car prices would result in only small losses for the banking system. Banks haven’t been the major players in this arena. Even allowing for the loans they’ve made to car finance companies as th  well as to car buyers, their exposures to the car market are just 1/5 of their credit card and personal loan books. Having reviewed their practices, we know the banks’ PCP deals tend to have a cushion between expected used car values and the final balloon payment. Even a 30% fall in used car prices, with all PCP contract cars handed back at the end of their term, would leave them with a loss of just £  Because they need to pass rigorous stress tests, the wider economy is being protected from the rapid growth of consumer debt. But it’s important that this defence line keeps pace with the risks. Lower interest income on their loans, more interest free balance transfers and less capital allocated to consumer debt, may mean banks may have become, at the margin, a little weaker.