samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Today, despite the effort to develop foreign currency (FC) issuances and other businesses out of Malaysia, we have not yet reached a critical mass. To date, FC issuances constitute only 4% of the total outstanding sukuk in Malaysia (March 2023: RM1.3 trillion), with USD being the main currency1. In terms of international players, these past few years have seen more consolidation rather than expansion or growth. Notwithstanding these, the FC or international business should represent a continuous opportunity for market players to develop further, in particular with the continued growth of our own international trade and investment and the foreign exchange liberalisations we have undertaken. Moving forward, while the opportunities of FC business remain available, the MIFC agenda will also give due consideration to strengthening the domestic ringgit market. Inclusion of MGII into international indices such as Markit iBoxx ALBI, Bloomberg Global Aggregate and JPMorgan GBI-EM have already led to improved visibility of Islamic instruments and increased foreign participation. Increased foreign participation in the local market via government issuances and multinational corporations' (MNCs) investment in the Halal industry is also envisaged to increase ringgit market appeal among the investors. Growth of takaful and re-takaful also continues to be a development focus. In the financial sector, Malaysia's takaful industry has continued to grow at a faster rate than conventional insurance. It recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.6% in the first nine months of 2022 and outperformed conventional insurance's CAGR of 10.8%2.

After several years’ moderate growth, the euro area has arrived at a favourable cyclical juncture. On the latest available figures, annual output growth is currently running at almost 2%. This rate exceeds the European Commission’s estimates of potential growth, which stand at around 1%. The soundness of the economic recovery is beginning to be reflected in the more dynamic behaviour of private investment. That breaks with a long period over which companies’ plans to increase capital were checked by uncertainty over future growth and the need to reduce their high levels of debt. Moreover, the recovery is extensive to the entire euro area, since all countries, including Greece, have attained positive growth rates. The improvement in economic activity has also enabled unemployment levels to be reduced to rates close to 9%, down from the levels of 13% observed at the worst points of the crisis. Significantly, this improvement in activity has come about against a difficult political background, marked by the start of the Brexit process and the rise in certain trends that are against free trade and the free circulation of people, freedoms that are the bedrock of the European project, and this without forgetting the permanent threat of terrorism. Returning to the positive economic developments, we should not forget two central matters. Firstly, these developments are largely the consequence of the extraordinary stimulus received from monetary policy.
Getting more people into work First of all, well-functioning labour markets are indispensable in fostering higher economic growth in the euro area. The still relatively high unemployment rates in the euro area clearly suggest that there is a need to spur not only labour supply but also labour demand. 6  See, for example, A. Alesina, S. Ardagna, G. Nicoletti and F. Schiantarelli (2005), “Regulation and investment”, Journal of the European Economic Association 3, pp. 791-825, in which the authors find that regulatory reforms have had a significant positive impact on capital accumulation in the transport, communication and utilities sectors, especially in the long run. In G. Nicoletti and S. Scarpetta (2003), “Regulation, productivity and growth”, Economic Policy, April, the authors find that various anti-competitive product market regulations significantly reduce total factor productivity growth at the industry level. J. Albert, G. Nicoletti and S. Scarpetta in their contribution to the conference provide a broad survey of the respective literature and some additional evidence. 7  Over the period 1995-2005, hourly labour productivity in the euro area grew on average by 1.6% and 2.5%, in the “wholesale and retail” and “financial” sectors respectively, compared with 3.6% and 3.4% in the United States. Source EUKLEMS database. BIS Review 18/2008  3  As regards labour demand, there is a need to reduce labour market rigidities that currently restrict wage differentiation and flexibility and thus tend to hinder the hiring of younger and older workers in particular.

The banking sector liberalization agenda includes discussion on harmonized standards of regulations, which is key criteria for licensing, as well as financial stability arrangement. This will be finalized this year, with timeline of liberalisation in 2014 to 2020, depending on country’s readiness. Capital market integration will also be important to ensure that regional market becomes deeper and wider, to serve growing needs of growing and large investment projects to link up the region’s production and infrastructure. Moreover, it will also help to intermediate capital inflows into the region in a more efficient and stable manner. Regional capital market will also be important for managing the growing pension funds of the region, where some countries are facing growing savings but aging population. It will offer a regional alternative to the currently fragile market in the west. How well prepared is Thailand for this? The banking system already has high degree of foreign participation. Market share of foreign banks and hybrid banks is 20 percent. The foreign banks also accounts for about 50 percent of transactions in OTC derivatives market here. These main players in foreign and hybrid banks include banks from the UK, EU, US, Japan, and China, as well as banks from Singapore and Malaysia. Thus, the banking system and Thai banks are familiar with international competition. Thai banks already have presence in all ASEAN countries, except Brunei. And for this, the AEC will help reduce barriers and enhance business operations of Thai banks abroad.
I believe that joint actions must be undertaken in order to minimize the threats of asset bubbles resulting from effective regulations in the sector of open pension funds, to better diversify investment portfolios as well as to enhance the sector’s prospective levels of return. In order to achieve those goals, we have to commit ourselves to: •  increase the limit on foreign investment and gradually modify some terms and conditions of using them from the current level of 5% to 30% of assets,  •  allow open pension funds to take recourse to derivatives with a view to hedging their investment portfolios,  •  in a longer perspective, gradually raise the open pension funds’ limit on investment in equities from 40% to 60%. Pension funds should invest a large part of their portfolios in equities because the return on equities should exceed that of debt instruments over a long horizon. CalPERS, the world’s  7  Rozwój systemu finansowego w Polsce w latach 2002-2003, Narodowy Bank Polski, December 2004, p. 120. 8  Regulation of 13 September 2005 concerning the deposits of a pension fund, Polish Journal of Laws – Dz. U., No. 186/2005, item 1549). 9  Regulation of 20 December 2005 repealing the regulation concerning the deposits of a pension fund, (Dz. U. No. 260/2005, item 2180). BIS Review 134/2007  3  largest pension fund, invests 45% of assets in equities on the US market and 20% in equities quoted on foreign markets.

Increased mobility of capital, both in and out of countries, including Norway, could follow. As I indicated earlier, we, like others, have experienced increasing difficulty in maintaining a stable exchange rate in a world of large, unrestricted capital flows. The relative calm within the euro area during the recent turmoil linked to the financial crises in Asia and Russia and later Brazil could be indicative of future differences between Europe’s “ins” and “outs”. Finland, despite its dependence on raw materials and relatively large exports to Russia, was less adversely affected than the other Nordic countries. For Norway, success in maintaining a stable exchange rate could become more challenging in the new environment. BIS Review 16/1999  –3–  Use of the euro in Norway. Euro and the Norwegian banking industry Use of the euro in Norway I would now like to comment on how, and to what extent, Norwegian economic agents might be expected to use the euro in the future. There are many indications that the euro will be used more extensively in trade between Norway and euro countries than the currencies of the 11 member states combined today. Over time the euro will most likely be used on an even wider scale. Obviously, the euro would increase in importance in the Norwegian market should Sweden, Denmark and the UK join EMU. The euro may also play a role – though probably limited – as a settlement currency between residents.
The lessons about the need to maintain a solid financial system and the capacity to apply countercyclical policies have been critical in this performance. At the same time, they serve as a solid foundation for a steady recovery. There are many tasks ahead of us, in particular to reinforce Chile’s growth capacity, but our macroeconomic fundamentals are consolidated. However, the horizon is not completely clear. Although risks are more limited than they were a few quarters ago, vulnerabilities remain. The financial systems of developed economies remain weak. World growth forecasts point to a slow recovery and the world will hardly regain the growth rates of 2006-2007 in the coming years. A proper conduct of economic policies should provide the support for such recovery. Adding to the problems still present in the financial systems and the level of private sector indebtedness, the fiscal situation of many industrialized economies, which met the crisis with already fragile positions, leaves several questions open. Global imbalances are not a problem today, because the drop in demand has taken part of the adjustment, but as the world economy picks up they could become a threat again. Finally, we have seen an optimistic attitude in international stock exchanges. They anticipate a healthy recovery, but if wrong they might result in asset revaluations that could pave the way for new uncertainties. The role of the Central Bank of Chile is to monitor all these risks and their implications on the monetary stance, in order to regulate it in consistency with its inflationary objective.

On the trade side, Chile has seen a drop in export prices, whose greatest effect can be observed in disposable income, which affects the demand, although the effects of the lower copper price are offset by the fiscal rule. Nonetheless, because the Chilean economy is primarily an exporter of commodity-related products, the effects of the drop in world activity were smaller than on exporters of manufactured goods. This is because the demand for manufactures has been the hardest hit by the global recession. In our case, prices have fallen, but it has been always possible to sell our products. On the other hand, in manufactures exporting countries, purchase orders came to a sudden halt, giving way to inventory build-up and a severe drop in production. This explains the magnitude of the initial fall in many Asian and industrialized economies. Overall, it is interesting to note that an essentially healthy economy like Chile was hit surprisingly fast by the international crisis. Here we must underscore that the effects of the global crisis had an unprecedented degree of synchrony. Roughly 90% of the world’s countries posted a contraction of output the fourth quarter of last year. The culprit of the deteriorated economic activity, in my opinion, was the confidence crisis that took over the whole world, Chile included. Uncertainty multiplied. There was genuine concern that the financial systems of developed economies might paralyze completely and that the economic meltdown would trigger a much deeper recession than the one we see today.
First, the process for setting the remit probably needs to involve both the Fund’s Executive Board and the IMFC: the Board, because it is the body formally charged under the Articles with the oversight of surveillance; and the IMFC, because of its heavyweight political composition. The involvement of the most senior policy-makers matters, because by endorsing the remit they are effectively giving the Fund a license to discuss their policies. This is empowering to the Fund. One way for this to work might be for the Board to present a draft to the IMFC for discussion at the spring meeting each year, taking its cue from the IMFC communiqué issued the previous autumn. Second, one obstacle to relying exclusively on the Executive Board to evaluate the Fund’s performance arises from the position of the Managing Director, who is both Chair of the Board and Head of the Fund Staff. But the MD’s position is embedded in the Articles and raises much wider issues of governance. In the short term at least, this argues for giving a significant role to the IMFC. Third, the technical challenges in assessing the effectiveness of surveillance are formidable. This points to giving an important role to the IEO which, since its foundation in 2001, has been building up relevant expertise in assessing various aspects of the Fund’s work. How much difference can IMF surveillance really make?

To support philanthropy and non-profit organisations seeking to invest in Asia, the International Organisations Programme Office was set up in 2007 by the Singapore Economic Development Board as a whole-of-government effort to facilitate international organisations planning to locate in Singapore. The Government has also developed supporting physical infrastructure, such as the Tanglin International Centre for clustering and shared services. Connectivity 20. In addition, Singapore has excellent international transport and communications connectivity, and can serve as an intermediary for giving in the region. Our location and stable and safe environment provide international donors with a convenient base from which to oversee their giving in the region. Governance 21. Lastly, we cannot over-emphasise the importance of good governance in charities. Governments are working to address this issue. For example, last year, China launched the China Foundation Centre (CFC) to promote greater transparency and accountability among foundations. But there is still much that countries in Asia can do to improve charity governance. 22. Singapore, too, is working on improving governance. We have put in place a sound regulatory framework and a code of governance to ensure transparency and accountability of our local charity sector. In addition, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre will also be introducing an independent charity analysis system this year. Conclusion 23. In closing, I would like to say that philanthropy makes the world a better place. It balances our emphasis on economic growth and the pursuit of profits with our warm, human side.
Less visible, perhaps, to the outside observer, but no less important, is the trading of over-the-counter derivative products among financial institutions. Fewer high frequency statistics are available for OTC activity than for exchange-based activity, but the Bank for International Settlements publishes regular estimates and has recently released the results of its comprehensive triennial survey of activity in the world's foreign exchange and related derivative markets. The HKMA has in parallel released some 1 details of the Hong Kong data which we collected and submitted for that survey. Briefly, in the three years up to April 2001, while, roughly in line with experience elsewhere in the world, turnover in the foreign exchange market in Hong Kong declined, activity in OTC derivatives - essentially currency swaps and options, and interest rate swaps, options and forward rate agreements - rose by just under 10%. Interest rate products accounted for almost two thirds of the total of this derivatives activity. The apparent buoyancy of interest-rate related activity may be partly attributable to the growth of composite products such as structured notes which include an option or swap element. Some of the 1  A fuller account will appear in the forthcoming November issue of the HKMA Quarterly Bulletin.

I should perhaps make the point here that supervision is not aimed at suppressing activity, but rather at ensuring that risks are properly identified and managed and that disasters which might threaten systemic stability are avoided. Particular emphasis is placed on ensuring that management possesses sufficient understanding of the derivatives business and the associated risks, and has the appropriate internal mechanisms in place for monitoring and control. Officialdom in general, and central banks more especially, are sometimes characterised as being opposed to speculation and, by extension, as being suspicious of derivatives, which are often regarded as a convenient vehicle for speculation. That characterisation is mistaken. We are not opposed to speculation. Indeed, we recognise very clearly that financial markets cannot operate efficiently if the speculator is excluded. He plays a key role in the price formation process and is the essential counterparty to the hedger. The textbooks tell us that if the speculator stabilises prices he makes a profit, while if he doesn't he loses. The fact that speculators still exist is then taken as prima facie evidence that their activity is on balance stabilising, although I am also conscious of the counterargument, namely that they are destabilising and lose money, but the population of them is constantly being replenished by fools who think they can do better. However, although we acknowledge the generally positive role of speculation, we are very much opposed to manipulation.
The Riksbank and other Swedish authorities did the same in 2008–2010. In 1992, the Swedish government issued a guarantee for the banks’ commitments aimed at preserving confidence in the Swedish banking sector. But guaranteeing liquidity is not enough. Confidence in the European banking market is still low. Few lenders are prepared to lend to European banks on market terms over the longer term. This is where the theory of asymmetric information comes in. As nobody knows with certainty which banks will or will not remain solvent over the longer term, cautious investors  8  European Commission (2011): “State Aid Scoreboard: Report on state aid granted by the EU Member States, Autumn 2011 Update”. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  will treat all banks as high-risk counterparties – in the same way as the car buyers in Akerlof’s “Market for lemons” treat all used cars as potential wrecks.9 When we, in Sweden, introduced the bank guarantee in 1992, it was to win time while banks were closed down, divided up and recapitalised with government assistance. The banks that were left were robust and able to regain the market’s confidence. This action reduced uncertainty and, in the course of time, contributed to keeping government expenditure down. In Europe, similar measures have only been carried out to a more limited extent. This delay and lingering uncertainty have contributed to the current sovereign debt crisis.

Jean-Pierre Roth: Economic prospects for 2005 in a subdued European environment Summary of a speech by Mr Jean-Pierre Roth, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the “Les Rencontres au Château” meeting, Sierre, 22 February 2005. The complete speech can be found in French on the Swiss National Bank’s website (www.snb.ch). *  *  *  Although the Swiss economy expanded by almost 2% in 2004, this was not sufficient to reduce unemployment significantly. Hopes for an improvement in this respect are thus focused on this year. However, they might unfortunately remain unfulfilled once again. At the end of 2004, there were already signs of a slowdown in growth caused by the weak dollar and persistently high oil prices. These factors also played a key role in the National Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Overall, the international economy developed in line with expectations during the first two months of 2005: the US and Asia saw further growth, while Europe was confronted with increased difficulties. The US economy is burdened with high budget deficits and the current account deficit. In Asia, the Chinese economy is booming, whereas Japan is still struggling to find its way back to the growth path. The monetary situation in Asia, too, appears less than stable. In Europe, the economic environment presents a rather dim picture. Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are expected to see rather modest growth, while the outlook for France is more upbeat.
In the medium term, the most important challenge for the Thai economy is how to cope with a slowdown in the world economy and a volatile global financial market. Thailand, like many emerging market economies with a small and shallow financial market, is particularly vulnerable to fast-moving international capital. Such rapid movements of capital flows can cause exchange rate to be vastly out of line with the underlying economic fundamentals and have negative impacts on the export or the import sectors depending on the direction of exchange rate movement. In our case, the recent surge in capital inflows has caused a one-way appreciation of the baht relative to regional currencies to the point that it may have become detrimental to both competitiveness and the ability to adjust of the real sector. Sustaining the growth momentum in such an adverse external environment is not an easy task. The key is to ensure that the baht does not move further ahead of other regional currencies. But this alone will not be enough. We also need help from domestic demand which has been somewhat soft due to a number of domestic and external factors during the past year. Whether we shall see a turnaround in domestic demand will depend on a number of factors. Some of these are fortunately on our side. First of all, oil prices, which hit the economy very hard this past couple years, appear to have settled down around 55 USD.

But perhaps more important from the point of view of the Bank of Thailand is that the current growth has been accompanied by a good degree of both internal and external stability. On internal stability, despite the recent surge in oil prices, inflation remains well in control. Core inflation, which is the Bank of Thailand’s policy target, is comfortably in the target range of 0-3.5%. And the unemployment rate, which shot up after 1997, has now returned to the level comparable to the pre-crisis period. 2  BIS Review 46/2007  On external stability, international reserve is now at a historic high of 67 billion USD and covers 3.4 times of short-term debt. In dollar terms, total external debt now stands roughly at half of its peak in 1997. Part of this rundown has been supported by the current account which has been in surplus in eight of the nine years after the crisis. It is worth noting however that external debt has picked up recently, and is being monitored closely. At the micro level, eight years after the crisis we see a strengthening in several aspects of corporate financial performance. Returns on assets of listed companies are now about twice its pre-crisis average while the average debt-to-equity ratio has fallen to about one-to-one. Higher returns and falling leverage have contributed to the interest coverage ratio of about 7 times.