samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Recently, a new risk factor has emerged. Impacts of global warming are high on the international agenda. Policy measures and shifts in consumption patterns and production methods towards lower emissions will reduce demand for fossil fuels. The change to a more climate-friendly policy may have a considerable impact on petroleum prices. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  Looking ahead, Norway must now be prepared for a time when the petroleum industry is no longer expanding, but gradually declining. We will need innovation and growth in other industries to pick up the slack. We have always known that oil and gas activities will be phased out sooner or later. Oil and gas are non-renewable resources. A stricter global climate policy or a greentechnological breakthrough may mean that this will occur sooner than foreseen earlier. In contrast to Norway, Mozambique is at the beginning of its gas era. I hope the lessons from Norway can give you some guidance on your way forward. One main lesson is that depletable natural resources must be viewed as part of a country’s wealth. Revenues from extracting oil and gas is just a transformation of this wealth and should be managed with a long-term prospective. At the same time, the development of oil and gas reserves can have valuable spillovers to the rest of the economy. Not only demand from the petroleum industry, but also innovations and technological skills developed in the industry can be of great value to other sectors.

Over the past years a number of steps have been taken including: •  In 1990, the Kingdom ratified the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances. •  In 1995, SAMA issued a manual containing “Guidelines for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering Activities”. These required Saudi banks to implement “Know Your Customer” rules, maintain records of suspicious transactions and report any suspicious activities to law enforcement agencies and SAMA. •  In 2003, SAMA issued revised AML-CTF Rules that updated previous requirements and provided a comprehensive framework for KYC requirements, according to the 40+8 FATF Recommendations and the Basel Recommendations. These Rules provide for strong sanctions to be imposed on banks and individuals that fail to implement these requirements. BIS Review 59/2006  3  •  In August 2003, the Council of Ministers approved a Law for Combating Money Laundering. Subsequently, a Financial Intelligence Unit was created in the Ministry of Interior and was staffed with expert resources. •  Also in 2004, the Financial Action Task Force carried out a review of the implementation of its 40 plus its 8 special recommendations. This review indicated that Saudi Arabia was fully or largely compliant with almost all FATF recommendations. •  Finally, in 2005 Saudi Arabia became a member of FATF Regional Body for Middle East and North Africa (MENAFATF) and a Saudi official from SAMA was elected and appointed as the Executive Secretary of this regional body.
Because the contribution to growth from inventory investment can be quite volatile on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the growth in real final sales probably provides a better sense of the state of economic activity than does the GDP figure. Moreover, when one digs deeper, the fundamentals supporting domestic demand look quite sturdy. For example, consumer spending has been well-supported by real income gains and rising household net worth. Household balance sheets do not appear over-extended. The household debt service burden is low, the household saving rate is not low relative to household net worth, and household credit growth has been slow. Housing fundamentals are solid as well. Decent payroll gains have supported household formation over the past year and mortgage rates remain low. Housing prices are rising and the constraint on growth in residential investment now appears to be more on the supply side, as building contractors struggle to mobilize the resources needed to construct more homes. The National Association of Home Builders’ index rose in October to the highest level  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  since late 2005. While the housing indicators will likely continue to be volatile on a month-to-month basis, I expect the gradual improvement in the housing sector to continue. Also, the international outlook appears less problematic than it did just a few months ago. Although substantial questions remain about the Chinese growth outlook and the consequences of lower commodity prices for major commodity-exporting countries, we have seen two important positive developments.

Although average hourly earnings rose more quickly in October―pushing the year-over-year pace up to 2.5 percent – this indicator can be volatile on a month-to-month basis, and it has not been borne out by some other important measures of labor compensation. For example, over the past year, the Employment Cost Index for private sector worker compensation has risen 1.9 percent, remaining within the narrow range of recent years. This is important because my assessment of what constitutes maximum sustainable or full employment depends in large part on how a tighter labor market translates into compensation gains. At the same time, one needs to be cautious about interpreting compensation trends in the current environment. It is possible that factors such as very low headline inflation and weak productivity growth are holding down what workers receive in  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  compensation. Therefore, because of such factors, compensation growth may not provide a reliable signal about whether we are approaching full employment. To sum up on the growth side, the economy looks to be in decent shape and is likely to continue to grow at a slightly above-trend pace. Spare labor resources are shrinking. But there still is some risk that the growth pace could slow as the trade sector acts as a drag on aggregate economic activity. On the inflation side of the ledger, I have greater concerns because we continue to fall substantially short of our inflation objective of 2 percent for the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) deflator.
Assume also, in that event, that monetary policy followed a simple Taylor Rule and that inflation was unaffected.29 These are clearly very stylised assumptions. Nonetheless, on those assumptions, a Taylor Rule would suggest interest rates would need to be cut sharply to their zero bound, to cushion the hit to growth. If we do the same thought-experiment under the “deal” scenario, again using a simple Taylor Rule, we get instead an upwards-sloped trajectory for expected interest rates, on average 25-50 basis points higher than the slightly upward-sloped market path for interest rates prevailing in May. Clearly, these are two very different interest rate trajectories, reflecting two quite different Brexit economic outcomes.30  In the event of a ‘deal’, upward pressure on demand would also likely be accompanied with a stronger exchange rate, so the ex-ante impact on inflation is ambiguous. 30 My MPC colleague, Jan Vlieghe, made a similar point in his recent speech (Vlieghe (2019)). 29  29  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  29  The market-implied path for interest rates is a probability-weighted mix of these two paths. With a 30% probability of “no deal”, this expected path would have interest rates falling in the near term before rising gently thereafter. Despite our scenarios being highly stylised and simplified, this expected path broadly mirrors the current market yield curve.

Job insecurity at the end of the 20th century has given way to income insecurity at the start of the 21st. This insecurity is an important part of the explanation for recent patterns in jobs and pay. The Jobs Ladder The framework most often used by macro-economists to explain pay and jobs is the Phillips curve – the negative relationship between pay growth and the stock of unemployment.11 Despite reports of its demise, there is still reasonably clear empirical evidence of a Phillips curve in labour market data, once allowance is made for a possible downwards shift in the NAIRU and/or slope of the Phillips curve.12 An alternative, complementary, lens on the labour market comes from looking at flows of workers between jobs, rather than stocks of unemployed. There is a large literature studying the process by which people search for work and are matched into jobs.13 There is empirical evidence that job-to-job flows – the velocity of circulation in the labour market – can play a significant role in explaining wage growth.14 When studying labour market flows, a “jobs ladder” pattern of behaviour has often been found. In a growing economy, workers move between jobs by climbing a ladder of opportunities based on job characteristics such as relative rates of pay and firm productivity.
The proliferation of electronic trading and banking may not only improve the efficiency with which transactions are executed, but also may accelerate the rate at which capital flows through global financial markets. The rewards of increasingly open financial markets may be great, but the punishment for poor investment decisions and lapses in public policies may be comparably severe. Thus, global financial markets are likely to place a greater premium on robust risk management practices. The Year 2000 computer problem is a third issue that needs to be a top priority for risk managers. One need only look at the price action in interest-rate futures markets to note the high degree of uncertainty surrounding this issue. While an organization may have prepared its internal systems, it still may be exposed to credit risk from less-prepared counterparties in both the public and private sector. Thus, I fully support the contingency plans a number of institutions are putting in place. I think it is important to make clear that it is the boards of directors and senior management of financial institutions – not the regulators – who must be responsible for ensuring that their BIS Review 8/1999  –3–  companies provide seamless and high-quality service through the year end. The Federal Reserve System has completed the internal testing of almost all of its applications. In addition, the governments of various industrialized nations stepped up their internal Y2K remediation efforts last summer.

Gent Sejko: Comments on cooperation extension between Albania and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Speech by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the ceremony of signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Swiss Government's SECO and the Bank of Albania, Tirana, 1 March 2019. * * * Dear ladies and gentlemen, Today we start the second phase of the cooperation with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which provides, on behalf of the Swiss Government, technical assistance to support, among others, central banks. I take this opportunity to extend our profound appreciation and gratitude to the Swiss Government, which has continuously provided assistance to the Bank of Albania – either directly or through other financial institutions – in the areas of payments, financial inclusion and monetary policy. Today, we are signing a new cooperation agreement with regard to perfecting our analyses and decision-making processes. The development and the continuous enrichment of scientific capacities of our talented staff, and the implementation of research and analysis methodologies to support the decision-making and policymaking processes are a priority for the Bank of Albania. In this context, it is a pleasure and honour for me, as the Governor of the Bank of Albania, to sign, together with H.E. Ambassador Maître, this agreement between our two institutions. At the Bank of Albania, we are very enthusiastic about this cooperation.
Howard Lee: Keynote speech - ASIFMA China Capital Markets Conference Keynote speech by Mr Howard Lee, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the ASIFMA China Capital Markets Conference, Hong Kong, 27 June 2023. *** Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here at the China Capital Markets Conference, and I'd like to thank ASIFMA for organising this event and inviting me to speak. Today's conference covers a wide range of topics, from opportunities and developments in China's capital markets to key trends like digital transformation, green and sustainable finance. As we all know, Hong Kong has always been the hub connecting Mainland and international markets, and currently intermediates two-thirds of cross-border direct investment and securities investment flows. It's an exciting time to be discussing how we can further leverage connectivity in China's and Hong Kong's financial markets and explore the key trends for the next stage of China's opening up. China's National 14th Five-Year Plan emphasises the importance of pursuing a higher level of opening up and promoting high-quality development. Despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, China's reform and opening up has continued to deepen. There are continued expansions of the Connect schemes, and foreign ownership limits on securities firms and mutual fund companies have been removed. These developments are encouraging and welcomed by the industry. Mainland authorities have reiterated that China will only open its door wider going forward, with Hong Kong continuing to play an indispensable role.

Consolidation is already far advanced in investment banking, where critical mass is of particular importance to profitability, and a US link has proved a competitive advantage. The recent mergers between Citibank, Salomon Smith Barney and Schroder, and between Chase, JP Morgan and Robert Fleming, affect investment banking activity in Europe as much as in the US. Consolidation is much less far advanced in retail banking in Europe, where national differences in the retail markets are still pronounced. Finally, regulation. Much has already been done to remove obstacles to the integration of Europe's capital markets. But the launch of the euro has served to highlight the barriers that remain. To remove these barriers, market practitioners in London do not believe that it is necessary to provide uniform regulation of European securities markets. Rather, the changes required can be implemented by relying on the principles of the Single European Market, and giving the necessary priority to implementing the European Commission's Financial Services Action Plan. And a Committee of Wise Men, chaired by Baron Lamfalussy, has been established in an attempt to speed up the process of change. We welcome the direction of the Wise Men's initial report last autumn, and we look forward to its final report, which is due shortly. The City has maintained its market share 16 I have identified five main ways in which the structure of the euro markets is developing.
A major challenge ahead is the consistent and timely implementation of the Basel III framework. It is of the essence that we all adhere to the agreed timeline, ensuring that our banks have a strong capital base. Only when implemented in a consistent manner across jurisdictions will the expected significant net social benefits, including reduced volatility of credit and GDP growth as well as the lower probability of occurrence of systemic crises, be achieved. To reap the benefits of the new framework, a consistent implementation of Basel III is essential. In this context, I welcome the European Commission’s proposal on the implementation of Basel III in the EU, issued in July in the form of a fully-fledged capital requirements regulation. With this step, the EU has demonstrated its strong commitment to the rapid implementation of the Basel III agreement. As it was already said earlier in this Eurofi colloquium, great attention is presently given to this very important piece of legislation, to verify and make sure that it is fully in line with the agreements reached at global level through the Basel Committee, the FSB and the G20. I am confident that this work will be satisfactorily concluded. SIFIS Another important step taken to strengthen the resilience of the financial markets is the agreement reached on global systemically important financial institutions. A key lesson from the crisis is that incentives need to be put in place for banks to reduce their “systemic footprint”.

We are just coming from Basel, the BIS headquarters. Reporting to the press on the Global Economy Meeting, I stressed that we were all very closely “united in purpose”: each of us in our own economy, with their different features and challenges, striving to solidly anchor inflation expectations, preserve stability and consolidate confidence. The globally co-ordinated decision we published this afternoon on US dollar liquidityproviding operations is a clear illustration of our very close cooperation at the global level and of the “unity in purpose” that I was mentioning last Monday. I thank you very much for your attention. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
By the end of the third quarter of 2009, the total assets of Islamic investment funds were estimated at about $ 27 billion, spread across 478 Islamic investment funds worldwide. Dear audience Islamic banking contributes to social and economic development through investment in areas related to the real economy such as production of goods and services and commerce. In addition, Islamic Banks and Institutions have proved their success in attracting savings, fulfilling customer’s needs and achieving their interests. Moreover, Islamic banking has made great strides in boosting banking business by introducing innovated products and tools and by adopting new financing forms such as Ijarah (leasing), Istisnaa and Salam, along with Mudarabah (profit and loss sharing) and Musharakah (partnership). Furthermore, a variety of Islamic Sukuk (Islamic bonds) has emerged, and some Islamic banks have started to arrange for syndicated financing transactions in accordance with Islamic forms, and others are managing Shari’ah-compliant investment funds. Every tool of the Islamic banking has its own contractual nature and features, which differ from other tools in terms of risks, guarantees and pricing. Islamic banking services have not been confined to the activities mentioned earlier, but the scope of their transactions has been extended to include other services such as: providing joint finance, issuing banking bonds and opening letters of credit. Islamic institutions and banks provide a variety of finance and insurance methods for enterprises, management of financial portfolios, and Tawarruq assets (assets securitization).

Muhammad Al-Jasser: Overview of the Islamic banking industry Speech by Dr Muhammad Al-Jasser, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, at The Fifth Conference for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, hosted by the Central Bank of Syria, Damascus, 15–16 March 2010. *  *  *  In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Let me first thank the Central Bank of Syria, the official sponsor of the Fifth Conference for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, and, in particular, I would like to thank the Bank’s Governor, His Excellency Dr. Adeeb Mayalah. Ladies and Gentlemen, Islamic banking has grown widely in recent years and has extended to several international financial centers, which invested in this field, reflecting an increasing interest in financial Islamic products and services. Because of this interest, some of the international markets indices such as “Dow Jones” and “FTSE” have been launching indices for Shari’ah-compliant activities since 1999. According to the latest available data, the Islamic financial institutions’ assets exceeded $ billion by end of 2009, and they are expected to exceed $ trillion by end of 2010. In addition, issuance of Islamic Sukuk has risen fourfold over the last four years, exceeding $ billion by end of 2009. Islamic banks and financial institutions account for 15 percent of the Middle East top 30 banks’ assets. There are more than 430 Islamic banks and financial institutions in more than 75 countries and about 191 conventional banks have Islamic windows.
The risks, when highlighted, often temporarily overshadow the long-term gains, which arise in small incremental doses over a long period. Unfortunately, short-term conditions came sharply into focus just when the Swedish people were about to vote, as attention was turned to the global economic slowdown and its effect on the euro area, particularly in the major countries. GDP growth in Germany and France is forecast to decline from 0.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively in 2002 to 0.0 and 0.3 per cent in 2003 (Riksbank forecast). This is the poorest rate of growth in these countries in over a decade. In the debate on the euro, this contraction in growth was largely attributed to the limitations imposed on these countries’ economic policies, as they did not have a national monetary policy, and to the fiscal policy constraints of the Stability and Growth Pact. As we know, the budget deficits of both Germany and France have in both 2002 and 2003 exceeded the reference value of 3 per cent of GDP, which was established in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact. At the same time, attention in the debate was drawn to the temporary and one-off rise in prices of certain goods that occurred when prices were rounded after the introduction of the euro. In light of this, it is understandable that many voters got the impression that there were no economic benefits of participation in the euro.

Our Constitution acknowledges the pivotal role of employers’ associations. Article 7 of the Preliminary Title recognises their role (along with the trade unions) as organisations key to the defence and promotion of economic and social interests, a point further bolstered in Article 22 and in the freedom of association it advocates. Our Constitution also details specific requirements in respect of the internal structure of employers’ associations, their ends and their functioning. It is emphatically important that employers’ associations should be exemplary institutions, both for society and for their associates. Among their obligations is, of course, to ensure this exemplary role, which includes defending the common good, good corporate governance and, in all instances, strict compliance with the law. Fomento has always been open to collaboration with other employers’ organisations. Notable proof of this, in the none-too-distant past, was its participation and drive, at the onset of the democratic transition some 40 years ago, to reconstruct the Spanish employers’ association framework with the creation of the Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales (CEOE – the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations) and its participation in and contributions to the pursuit of the attendant activities. The first president of the CEOE, Carlos Ferrer Salat, was from Fomento, as was indeed the current president, Joan Rossel. The international economic and financial crisis The year 2017, which has recently begun, will mark 10 years since the first episodes of the crisis from which the global economy is still recovering.