samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
It is also true that such developments will not only bring banking services closer to those who need them, but also improve competition among banks in Zambia while creating jobs for our people. However, there is need to complement physical branch expansion with product innovation programmes that will capture a lot more people in the remote areas of our country. In addition, the crucial role that banks play in financial intermediation cannot be overemphasised. The real challenge is for all financial sector players to play their honest part in enhancing savings mobilization and to effectively channel the public’s savings to support financing of economic activities in all parts of the country. Chairperson, it is pleasing to note that despite the recent challenges facing the global economies, Access Bank Zambia Limited remains committed to growth through its efforts to expand its branch network and through product innovation. Although the bank has been in existence for just under two years, it now has three branches which is a very welcome development. I am certain that this development will go a long way in enhancing access to finance. Furthermore, I am reliably informed that the bank is earmarked not only to expand its branch network to five this year but also bring to the financial sector some exciting and innovative products. An example of this is the Visa Debit-card which was launched today. It is the Bank of Zambia’s expectation that these efforts, accompanied by prudence in risk management, will contribute to the further deepening of our financial markets.

I thank you for your attention. 2  BIS Review 19/2010
This is more than double the figure recorded at the beginning of the year (2.3% in January). In this case, certain pandemic-related factors may have facilitated a faster than expected pass-through of inflationary pressures. First, the bottlenecks I referred to earlier, which since 2021 have constrained the supply response to growth in demand. But also the strong demand for home renovation or, more recently, the rapid pace of resumption of activities involving more social contact, after two years of demand constraints.4 Moreover, the labour market has so far performed relatively robustly in Europe, an issue I will come back to later. In this context, and in view of the escalation of the energy conflict with Russia, we expect the inflationary episode in the euro area to be more intense and longer-lasting than we initially thought before the summer. This is reflected in the latest ECB staff forecasts, which, 2  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/14698140/2-30092022-AP-EN.pdf/727d4958-dd57-de9f-996599562e1286bf 3  These projections were published on 8 September, with a data cut-off date of 22 August. 4  Pacce, del Río and Sánchez (2022). The recent performance of underlying inflation in the euro area and in Spain. Analytical Articles, Economic Bulletin, 3/2022, Banco de España. 2  in line with the OECD or Consensus Forecasts, have recently revised their inflation outlook significantly upwards. In particular, the ECB staff projections expect average inflation to reach 8.1% in 2022, before easing to 5.5% in 2023 and 2.3% in 2024.

Reflective of this development is the fact that Icelandic banks have begun to grant credit to borrowers in other countries on a measurable scale, particularly in areas where they have a competitive advantage in analysing the soundness of the prospective borrowers. The title of my presentation is Iceland in a Global Setting. What I have briefly described is a country that has followed the path of many countries, including the Nordic Countries, in liberalising its economy, both internally and externally. This has exposed the economy to market forces and competition from abroad and a monetary regime bent on securing a low rate of inflation was chosen. Iceland is, as mentioned, not a member of the European Union and membership is not on the agenda of the present Government. Iceland operates its own small currency on the margins of the US dollar and the euro. These facts place firm requirements on economic policy while at the same time offering Iceland to reap important benefits from globalisation. This is indeed born out by developments over the last few years that were years of rapid growth of GDP and years which tested the ability of economic policy makers to steer the economy in an environment of liberalised markets and capital movements. More generally, the lesson to be drawn from our experience is that countries only stand to gain from full participation in the global economy. Aside from subjecting the domestic economy to competition from abroad, it disciplines economic policymaking.
If housing prices are considered a problem, instruments such as loan-to-value restrictions, amortization requirements, a property tax, or restrictions on the tax deductibility of mortgage rates are examples of instruments that have much lower real costs and hence a considerable comparative advantage compared to the policy rate in affecting housing prices (Svensson 2010b). Flexible inflation targeting with mean square gaps (MSGs) – another step towards increased transparency The adoption of numerical inflation targets has entailed great progress for practical monetary policy and made it possible to measure and evaluate the target fulfilment of monetary policy  2  Such considerations could include evidence of the “risk-taking channel” as in Borio and Zhu (2008). Adrian and Shin (2010a, b) argue, in a model with such a risk-taking channel, that short interest-rate movements may have considerable effects on the leverage of securities broker-dealers in the market-based financial sector outside the commercial-banking sector. If we assume that the risk of a financial crisis increases as this leverage increases, and that policy rates affect leverage, then policy rates would affect the risk of a financial crisis (Woodford 2010b). However, new regulation is likely to limit excess leverage and limit the magnitude of these affects. The size of the market-based financial sector may end up being smaller after the crisis. In Europe, Canada and the Nordic countries, commercial banks dominate the financial sector. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  in a much more efficient manner than before.

A conclusion that should be drawn from the crisis is that neither price stability nor interestrate policy is sufficient to achieve financial stability. Instead, a separate financial-stability policy is needed. In particular, monetary policy and financial-stability policy need to be conceptually distinguished, since they have different objectives and different appropriate instruments, even in cases where the central bank has responsibility for both. 1 Financial stability as an objective of monetary policy makes little sense, but it does makes sense as an objective of the central bank, if the central bank has the instruments required to fulfil this responsibility. Let me elaborate on these issues. 1  For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see Svensson (2010, section 5.2). BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Monetary policy after the crisis Is there any reason to fundamentally modify the framework of flexible inflation targeting given the experience of the financial crisis? I think not. Flexible inflation targeting has worked and continues to work well – before, during and after the crisis. Flexible inflation targeting implies that the central bank aims at stabilizing both inflation around an inflation target and resource utilization around a normal level. This implies choosing a policy-rate path such that the corresponding forecasts of inflation and resource utilisation best stabilise inflation and resource utilisation.
Since the mid-1990s, MAS has entered into a number of such MOUs to ensure that the level of regulatory collaboration keeps pace with the capital market linkages that are in place. A formal arrangement enshrined in an MOU may not be necessary in all cases, but are helpful amongst jurisdictions with substantive capital market linkages or trading arrangements in place. Impetus for international standards The second proposition is the growing impetus for international standards. In this regard, IOSCO has taken the lead in putting forward a set of principles which its members subscribe to. Some of the principles are necessarily pitched at a broad level, to allow members to agree on key areas which regulators should focus their attention. The challenge ahead is to continue working systematically on the principles to further cross-reference against quantifiable standards. There are several reasons why such international standards are important. Danger of a weak link in the system The first is that interconnected markets means that transactions involving intermediaries or markets in different jurisdictions are always exposed to the weakest link. As an example, a localised weak link in clearing and custody networks used for cross-border transactions that buckles under stress will have far reaching repercussions on the smooth functioning of counterparties and markets in other jurisdictions. 2  BIS Review 31/2002  Benchmarking The second reason is that, whereas regulations are developed for local usage, international standards are invariably developed under the close scrutiny of different regulators, and are derived after rigorous debate and sometimes protracted fine-tuning.

These geopolitical risks leave an imprint on the economy as businesses put off hiring and investment decisions until the air has cleared. Moving away from the global context, back to the United States, the tightening of financial conditions that occurred late last year will likely restrain consumer and business spending this year. In fact, we have already seen a sustained slowing in housing construction, in part reflecting less favorable financing costs. Now, I know this talk of slowing growth is causing uncertainty, some hand-wringing, and even fear of recession. But slower growth shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise. For quite some time, the economic fundamentals have pointed to GDP growth much lower than what we saw in the 1990s, for example. In fact, my 2 percent growth forecast is right in line with g-star. That means slower growth isn’t necessarily cause for alarm. Instead, it’s the “new normal” we should expect. And, it’s important to remember that this is happening at a time when the labor market is very strong. From the perspective of monetary policy, the overall picture of the economy is about as good as it gets: very low unemployment, sustainable growth, and inflation just about at our 2 percent goal. 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  Given this favorable situation, when you look at monetary policy, things are looking pretty normal as well.
They bear a considerable risk. As compensation, shareholders have received a higher return over time – a risk premium. It is a good strategy for a fund such as ours to exploit this risk premium to seek excess returns. This is why the chosen allocation to equities is relatively high. In addition, a reasonable distribution between bonds and equities can contribute to reducing the Fund’s overall risk, as bond and equity prices tend to move inversely. The bond portfolio may thus be seen as a kind of hedge against a drop in equity prices. In recent years, the Fund has also invested directly in real estate. In the light of its size and long horizon, the Fund is well positioned to make gains in low liquidity markets. Real estate investment is an example. The mandate provides for an increase in the real estate allocation up to 5 percent, while the allocation to fixed-income instruments is to be reduced from 40 percent to 35 percent. A few years from now, almost two-thirds of the Fund will thus be invested in real assets. This is a fairly high share. A pertinent question may still be whether as much as a third of the Fund should be invested in low-yielding instruments. In the long run, a bond allocation of 20–25 percent should suffice to maintain the Fund’s needed hedge against a fall in equity prices. Risk management must encompass the Fund’s overall risk. This can only be achieved if total risk is managed and controlled.

5 de octubre de 2017  Presentation of the III Seminar in Economic History Banco de España Luis M. Linde Governor  Good morning and welcome to the Banco de España for our III Seminar in Economic History. The Seminars in Economic History organised by the Banco de España were launched three years ago, in 2015. The first one was held on the occasion of the retirement of Pedro Tedde de Lorca, who for many years was the member of the Directorate General of Economics and Statistics in charge of the Economic History programme and that, by the way, has been recently elected as a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History. Last year, in October, we celebrated the second edition of the Seminar. The main purpose of these seminars is to bring together economic historians from academia and economists from the Bank to engage in research into economic episodes of the past with relevance for the economic problems of today. For many years the Banco de España has devoted substantial resources to research in economic history. This tradition goes back to the mid-1960s when a project was launched to publish, in one volume, a series of essays tracing the origin and development of the Banco de España, one of the oldest banks of issue, originally established in 1782 as “Banco de San Carlos”. The result was El Banco de España. Una historia económica and Ensayos sobre la economía española a mediados del siglo XIX, both published in 1970.
First, since the global financial crisis, the UK economy has been subject to a series of major supply shocks, which, for reasons that I will explain, create a tension between short-term inflation and output stabilisation. And second, there has been a renewed recognition that, in extreme circumstances, the monetary authority may have to take into account financial stability considerations in setting monetary policy with potential consequences for the short-term path of inflation control. These are big decisions, decisions subject to considerable uncertainty, and decisions which entail potentially large welfare costs, arising from high unemployment and unevenly distributed costs of inflation. They deserve scrutiny to ensure that they are consistent with society’s preferences as expressed in statute and remit. 1. Monetary policy remit For most of the Bank’s history, an assessment of whether it was acting in a way consistent with society’s view of the public good could not be made. As former Governor Eddie George remarked, during the half century that followed its nationalisation in 1946 “the Bank operated under legislation which, remarkably, did not attempt to define our objectives or functions.” 7  They were, instead, “assumed to carry over from [the Bank’s] earlier long history.” In that regard, the Bank’s ‘constitution’ resembled that of the United Kingdom more broadly, comprising a rich history of law, principle and convention.

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Grow your business – access to financing for SMEs in Malaysia Opening remarks by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the book launch of “Grow your business: access to financing for SMEs in Malaysia”, Kuala Lumpur, 27 August 2013. *  *  *  It is my pleasure to be here this morning for the launch of the SME financing guide book “Grow Your Business: Access to Financing for SMEs in Malaysia”. Significant attention has been given to SME development in view of its relative importance in our economy, in terms of its role in generating growth and employment. SMEs are an important agent of growth and will be a vital component that will support our nation’s aspirations to transition to become a high income economy. SMEs have become a formidable force in the economy, accounting for 97% of established businesses and employing 57% of the nation’s workforce. The SME contribution to GDP is now 33% and is projected to increase to 41% by 2020 as envisaged in the SME Master Plan that has been endorsed by National SME Development Council. As the economy becomes more sophisticated, so will the requirements of the SMEs. One of the major levers of growth for the SME sector is access to financing. Financial institutions therefore have an important role in the ecosystem for financing to SMEs. In the current environment, financial institutions provide 89% of the total SME financing.
SMEs need to be nurtured and equipped with the right tools and skill sets to kickstart their sustainability journey on the right footing. The roll-out of the Greening Value Chain Programme, or GVC in short, is a testament to the Bank's commitment to ensure SMEs have access to the necessary support to implement longterm impactful changes. GVC complements available financing via its complimentary technical workshops, financial advisory services and emission measurement tools provided by the strategic partners. Before I end my remarks, I wish to highlight the two key success factors of the GVC initiative. First, strong commitment from participants to undergo the programme and implement the changes recommended. This requires a genuine desire to transition to a greener and more sustainable practices, as well as willingness to invest the necessary resources and time to make it happen. Participants must be committed to making real changes, both in your operations and in the products and services that you offer. Second, proactive actions from large corporations in greening their supply chain network is a must - given their unique position to drive critical mass transition. GVC is the first of many pilot initiatives to come in gearing up our green agenda, and we hope to see more similar private-public partnerships in the future. The Bank remains committed playing bridging role by bringing the national green agenda closer to the public. For this, we welcome any potential partners who are keen to explore new areas of collaboration. Ladies and Gentlemen, Climate change is here to stay.

These developments will push up inflation and imply that the policy rate must be set higher than we envisaged earlier for inflation to return to target. Price stability is essential for a well-functioning economy. High inflation is weakening household purchasing power, and lower-income households with the smallest margins are being hit hardest. Borrowers are facing higher interest rates on top of high inflation, and many will be coping with tighter budgets. But by raising the policy rate, we are helping to bring down inflation, which is in everyone's interest. Chart 3 Turbulence in international banking markets In recent weeks, problems at certain US and Swiss banks have led to large movements in global financial markets. Equity markets have fallen, and risk premiums in money and bond markets have increased a little. Expectations for both Norwegian and international policy rates have declined markedly. 1/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  We are not seeing any signs of liquidity problems for Norwegian banks. Norwegian banks are profitable, well capitalised and well positioned to cope with losses and market stress. Households and firms appear to have ample access to credit. We are closely monitoring developments and we are always prepared to take the measures required to safeguard financial stability if needed. Let me say a little more about the economic outlook and our assessments. Chart 4 Persistently high Inflation among trading partners Inflation is also high among our trading partners, although it has recently moderated a bit. Labour markets are tight.
The minutes and Inflation Report published regularly by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are pitched at a linguistic level which means they are readily accessible to only around 5% and 12%, respectively, of the UK population. 18  Minutes of the meetings of the United  States FOMC are pitched at a level which makes them accessible to only around 2-3% of the US population. To some extent, this inaccessibility problem applies to all technical disciplines. Economics appears, however, to have a particularly acute case. On many measures, economics is the most tribal of the social sciences, judged by cross-disciplinary collaboration and citation. There are signs recently of improvement, but from a low base. sciences. 20  19  Economics ranks high on the tribalism scale even by comparison with most natural  Only theoretical physicists (with the probable exception of Stephen Hawking) come close. 14  ING-Economics Network Survey of the Public’s Understanding of Economics (2017). Edelman (2017). YouGov / Rethinking Economics Survey (2016). 17 Financial Conduct Authority (2017). 18 Haldane (2017). See also Jost (2017) for an analysis of the Bank of England’s Inflation Attitudes Survey. 19 Angrist, Azoulay, Ellison, Hill and Lu (2017). 20 As measured, for example, by the degree of cross-citations (Haldane and Turrell (2017)). 15 16  4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  4  The other side of this coin is the public’s level of understanding of economic and financial issues. This, by the public’s own admission, is not as they would wish.

I am, therefore, optimistic about the future.” It took the Bank of England almost 70 years to get to that point and introduce an inflation target. The objective of stability is best achieved by an inflation target because it stresses both what monetary policy cannot do – reduce unemployment in the long run – and what it can do – react to shocks in order to minimise undesirable volatility in output and employment. To that end, the pursuit of an explicit and symmetric inflation target is the relevant objective of monetary policy. With an inflation target and, more recently, the new Monetary Policy Committee, both unemployment and inflation have fallen significantly. I hope and believe that, with these new institutional arrangements, although we shall certainly make mistakes in the setting of monetary policy, we should be able to avoid the instabilities of the past 30 years which did so much to damage Britain’s economic standing. We should never forget that – as Milton Friedman pointed out in his 1968 Presidential Address (quoting in turn John Stuart Mill) – monetary policy becomes important for society only when it goes badly wrong. That is the basis for my proposition that a successful monetary policy should be boring, and that successful central bankers should be seen as neither heroes nor villains, but simply as competent referees, allowing the game to flow and staying out of the limelight. In the end, a central bank is doing its job when no one notices that it is there.