samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
They mean that the Bank’s balance sheet is a key part of the infrastructure for securing monetary and financial stability for the good of the people of the UK. And that infrastructure is future-proofed. We regularly execute a variety of operations. We test facilities that we are not actively using, and encourage firms to be sure of their operational capability to use them. We have banks’ collateral pre-positioned with us so we stand ready to lend at short order, if needed. And we support all of this with the appropriate risk management framework, to ensure that as well as supporting firms and markets, we aren’t unduly jeopardising public resources. And all this means that our balance sheet is fit for purpose to underpin whatever policy decisions, covered by the Bank’s remit, are made in the future. 30  See also Carney, M. (2018), “New Economy, New Finance, New Bank”, Mansion House Speech 2018, available at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2018/new-economy-new-finance-new-bank-speech-by-mark-carney.pdf. 31 The Discussion Paper is available at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2018/boe-future-balance-sheet-and-framework-forcontrolling-interest-rates. Comments should be sent to balancesheetDP@bankofengland.co.uk by 31st October 2018. 11  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  11

The Pact has been constructed with a view to generating so much pressure on Member States to put government finances in order that sanctions will never be necessary. A knotty problem when constructing the Pact was how to make the requirements sufficiently strict without placing undue restrictions on national fiscal policies. This is all the more important when monetary policy is no longer available at national level, so that the task of adjustment falls more heavily in practice on fiscal policy. OECD estimates indicate that in a “normal” economic downturn, the cyclical budget balance in EU countries weakens by 1-1.5 per cent of GDP. Some budgetary discretion is therefore needed so that there is a margin for automatic stabilisers to act when activity is falling. The conclusion is that the trade-off seems reasonable but the Pact does make it necessary to achieve a balanced budget or a surplus relatively soon. Under these circumstances, the Swedish government’s ambition to establish an annual budget surplus of 2 per cent over the business cycle is commendable. Fiscal policy accordingly faces new challenges and it is not all that easy to tell just what may happen. When monetary policy ceases to be a national instrument, fiscal policy will have to play a greater part in stabilisation policy.
This market has progressed considerably in recent years, with the evolution of the markets for Exchange Fund bills and notes, borrowing programmes by public sector bodies, fundraising by multinational agencies and sizeable funding programmes - mainly at the short end - by Hong Kong financial institutions. But, except for Exchange Fund bills, the secondary markets are not greatly active and there has been little activity by local private sector corporate entities to raise longer-term funds directly from the debt market. Perhaps the difficulty is simply that market conditions are seldom regarded as propitious on all fronts simultaneously - at present, for instance, the general level of interest rates may tend to discourage issuance at term. And there is definitely a chicken-and-egg problem in that prospective investors would like prior evidence of a liquid market, but liquidity cannot be tested until there has been issuance. Dilemmas such as these are certainly not unique to Hong Kong. I acknowledge also that there are perceived obstacles concerning the tax regime, but it is worth noting that Hong Kong does have a low overall tax environment. It is hard to find solutions which fully satisfy all parties in such matters. It is also worth noting that, in normal market conditions, there is perhaps less incentive to exploit the potential of the local currency debt market than there might be in other centres, because of our pegged exchange rate: some borrowers may consider the US dollar 3  BIS Review 52/1999  market a satisfactory surrogate, especially given its established liquidity.

But a significant amount of investment may have no identifiable link at all to domestic saving, because savings have flowed out of the country through one channel and investment funds have flowed in through a completely different one. I shall return to this point in a minute. Returning to the behaviour of domestic saving and investment, the chart shows the excess of saving over investment in graphic form. I have then added a column representing the recorded inflow of foreign direct investment. The latter may perhaps be regarded as the category of inflow likely to be most closely associated with physical investment. If you add that to the surplus of saving over investment (i.e. the two columns together), you can visualise in the majority of instances a significant potential over-funding of investment, even before taking account of any inflows of portfolio funds or bank finance which may head to the same destination. Does this mean that there has in practice been more than enough money around in these countries to finance all desired investment? Of course not. As hinted earlier, I have failed so far to take any account of capital outflows. Part - in many cases perhaps a substantial part - of domestic savings is 1  BIS Review 52/1999  exported.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Enhancing global interlinkages in the international Islamic financial system Opening speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the launch of Commodity Murabahah House, Kuala Lumpur, 17 August 2009. *  *  *  It is my great pleasure to be here, this afternoon, on this occasion of the launch of the Commodity Murabahah House. The establishment of the Commodity Murabahah House is, indeed timely, as the international financial crisis is gradually stabilising and the global economy is entering into a period of recovery. This decade has seen Islamic finance enter into a new phase of development, as its international dimension gains significance. Of significance, is that the international financial crisis has not discouraged this trend. The Islamic financial system has continued, during this period, to become increasingly integrated with the international financial system. However, as this inter-connectivity intensifies, the exposure to risks arising from financial and economic developments from other jurisdictions will increase. Essentially, international Islamic financial transactions will require the development of the supporting financial infrastructure, in particular, the systems and structures for the management of liquidity. Malaysia has taken several initiatives to strengthening the international dimension of our Islamic financial system during this decade, to increase our inter-linkages with other parts of the world. In 2002, the Malaysian Government became the first to issue a global sukuk. In the same year Malaysia was in the pioneer group that established the Islamic Financial Services Board that sets international prudential standards for Islamic finance.

I wish to acknowledge the endorsement of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities and the support by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysian Palm Oil Association and Malaysian Palm Oil Council as well as the CPO industry players towards this initiative. On this occasion, I wish to take the opportunity to congratulate the team at Bursa Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission and the market players for their perseverance in concluding this project that was started two years ago and in making it a reality today. 2  BIS Review 98/2009
Rosling, H (2018), Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think, Sceptre. Smith, H, Parker, F, Kotze, S and Laurin, M (2013), ‘Multiple independent appearances of the cecal appendix in mammalian evolution and an investigation of related ecological and anatomical factors’, Comptes Rendus Palevol, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp. 339-354. Tegmark, M (2017), Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Allen Lane. Unger, R (2019), The Knowledge Economy, Verso. Viereck (1929), What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post. 22  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  22

The BIS Review 7/1999  –4–  counterpart is a sharp decline in net external demand in the industrial countries, which, if it is not offset by action to stimulate domestic demand in those countries, could lead to weakening global activity and price deflation. In fact to varying degrees – reflecting differing assessments of how far their particular currency area is expected to be affected by the slowdown in external demand, and different starting points in their assessment of trends in domestic demand, and of how close they were initially to full capacity, in their respective overall economies – both the UK and the euro-zone, as well as the US, have acted fairly aggressively to reduce interest rates since the autumn; and Japan has moved to more active fiscal stimulus. And if the global economic prospect, and net external demand in the industrial countries, were to deteriorate further, then it would be right to contemplate further moves in the same direction – consistently with our aim of effective price stability. What we are trying to do, as I said earlier, is to keep aggregate demand in line with the supply capacity of our economies. We have no interest in the creation of unnecessary spare capacity in our economies as a whole or in a fall in the underlying general price level.
There must be a decision at some high managerial level which balances the interests of monetary policy and financial stability as well as other central bank responsibilities. The organisation and processes of the central bank must also be structured so that they facilitate the analysis preceding the decision leading to a balanced view, based on both monetary and financial stability considerations. For instance, there should be inter-departmental working groups. Financial stability lies within the Riksbank’s mandate The importance of having a well-structured framework for monitoring overarching financial system stability and identifying potential weaknesses is relatively new compared to the structures for conducting monetary policy. In Sweden (probably also in Norway), it started as a result of the banking crisis in the early 1990s. The Riksbank sees system stability as being in our remit. The Riksbank Act states that we shall “promote a safe and efficient payment system” and we interpret “payment system” in a broad sense including not only the narrow payment infrastructure but also major banks and other institutions and markets that are necessary for the intermediation of payments. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  Should the responsibility for financial stability rest with the central bank? Yes, I think so. The supervisory agencies are structured to focus on the microprudential aspects, but the central banks are organised and staffed for macroprudential analysis, which is also needed for the conduct of monetary policy.

I’ll use this to lead into a discussion of the issues facing policymakers as we go forward. This slide was put together for a briefing recently by Harvey Rosenblum. It charts employment by Federal Reserve district from the time job creation peaked in each district until today. A quick explanation to make this easier on the eye: The bottom, or horizontal  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  axis, is the time in months since employment peaked in each district. For example, it has been roughly 54 months since employment peaked in the Atlanta district, which is depicted by the tan bottom line; it has been 36 months since employment peaked in the Dallas district, as shown in the shorter red line at the top. Observing the vertical axis, you can see that the only Fed district that is recovering to employment levels enjoyed at the peak is Dallas. In point of fact, the only other states that are back to or have punched through their previous peak employment levels are Alaska and North Dakota, which, combined, have a population of 1.4 million good citizens. The other 11 Fed districts are hovering at levels approximately 3 to 8 percent below peak employment, while the nation as a whole – the black line – is still 5 percent below the levels that prevailed in 2008. Of course, in Texas we have a long tradition of outperforming the nation – a tradition matched only by our long-standing reputation for modesty.
2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  In Zambia, although the financial sector was not adversely affected by the crisis in a direct fashion, over the period 1995–2000, the sector experienced numerous episodes of bank failures that have had adverse effects on the confidence in the financial system. A total of ten banks were closed during this period and a major weakness noted in all the failures were the weak governance structures and practices in the banks. A close examination of the failed banks identified the following weaknesses which were common in most of them; large credit exposures, lending to connected parties, poor or absence of a credit policy, incompetent management coupled with ineffective boards, foreign exchange exposures and an absence of or inadequate risk management frameworks. In other banks, the board chairman was also the majority shareholder and the chief executive of the bank. Such basic risk management failures, to a large extent reflect a breakdown in corporate governance. Chairperson, you may wish to note that the Zambian Banking system is stronger and properly regulated today than it was in the 1990s. The Bank of Zambia has been periodically reviewing the Banking and Financial Services Act (BFSA) to bring it up to date with international standards and current global practices. One of the areas the Banks has continued to strengthen is the corporate governance provisions to ensure that the board of directors and senior management of banks and financial institutions conduct the affairs of their institutions prudently.

I am therefore delighted that the Institute of Directors has chosen this topic for discussion today. Perhaps it would be useful to begin by defining what corporate governance means. There is no single, accepted definition of what “corporate governance” means. The majority of the definitions employed by corporate practitioners relate corporate governance to “control” of the company. In this regard, corporate governance is defined as a set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. Corporate governance influences how the objectives of the company are set and achieved, how risk is monitored and assessed and how performance is optimised. Ladies and Gentlemen, corporate governance is of key importance to any financial system. In Zambia the financial sector is dominated by banks and these remain the main source of finance in the economy. The failure of corporate governance in banks may therefore pose serious consequences for the banking sector and the economy as a whole. It is also important to note that the health of the financial system largely depends on their capacity to identify measure, monitor and control their risks. Banks face a wide range of complex risks in their day to day operations, including risks relating to credit, liquidity, exposure concentration, market risks, settlement, and internal operations. The nature of banks’ business particularly the maturity mismatch between their assets and liabilities, their relatively high gearing and their reliance on creditor confidence creates particular vulnerabilities.
5 The Riksbank’s exclusive right to issue banknotes entered into force in 1904. 5 [15]  could meet for lunch at the Five Bells to exchange cheques – and the ‘modern’ clearing house was born.6 Over time, procedures improved markedly. While settlement of banks’ obligations had for many years taken place in coins, the Bank of England’s notes now allowed for a safer and more efficient process. Later, the Bank of England started to offer account settlement, for many years on physical ledgers and later in digital form. Moving from pub clearing and settlement in coins to highly advanced electronic systems may not have entirely eliminated risks. Yet, few – if anyone – would deny that the efficiency gains have been enormous. Central banks around the world followed suit and set up similar arrangements to clear and settle payments. In the United States, the Federal Reserve System in 1918 established the first version of Fedwire, its system for transfers of funds between banks. What was special about Fedwire is that it used the telegraph lines which now connected the entire country. This technological innovation made it possible to settle payments within a short time, even between banks that held accounts in different regional banks in the Fed system. In Sweden, the establishment of Postgirot was an important step. Postgirot was, in essence, a public bank within the Swedish postal service.

Over the next three years, this pool is expected to grow to $ trillion. BIS Review 91/2010  1  7. With such vast investment capacity, SWFs will play increasingly important roles in the international financial system. John Lipsky of the IMF noted that in the recent crisis, SWFs have been a positive and stabilizing force in providing capital to economies. Closing 8. The opening of NBIM’s Singapore office represents the start of a new chapter to the strong friendship and good relations between Singapore and Norway and to even closer cooperation between our investment agencies. 9. The Singapore office will certainly place NBIM in the heart of Asia; bringing NBIM closer to developments within the Asian markets and in the assessment of investment opportunities in the region. 10. 2  Congratulations on your office opening! Have an enjoyable evening ahead! BIS Review 91/2010
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Economic outlook and business opportunities in Malaysia Opening remarks by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the 5th IFSB Summit "Economic Outlook and Business Opportunities in Malaysia", Amman, Jordan, 12 May 2008. *  *  *  It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Malaysia Country Showcase held in conjunction with the 5th Islamic Financial Services Board Summit. On behalf of the Malaysian delegation, I wish to thank you for your presence here to give us this opportunity to share with you the Malaysian business proposition and our drive to strengthen trade and investment ties between our regions. We have with us today a special panel to discuss the business potentials and opportunities in Malaysia. We are very pleased to be here in Jordan and to be given this opportunity to hold this event in this beautiful country. The current global economic and financial environment is being confronted with new challenges and uncertainties. The financial crisis in the United States has spread to other parts of the world, increasing the prospects for a global economic slowdown. We are seeing in the global financial markets, banks continuing to de-leverage and reducing lending activities, resulting in a contraction in credit supply. Going forward, financial markets are expected to continue to be volatile. In this environment, the fear of contagion is prompting investors to spread their investment and business risks and to search for new asset classes and for markets that provide stability.

Can this persist in the long term? The ECB’s monetary policy will remain very accommodative until inflation is firmly on a path towards 2%. What other reasons are there, beyond the ECB’s decisions, for interest rates being so low? It is because growth is still weak. It is because our economies are less able than in the past to create growth. The ECB must take account of this environment and, to provide effective support to the recovery, we must set our key interest rates at very low or even negative levels. If the European economy regains the ability to sustainably create growth, interest rates will return to levels more favourable to savings. How do you account for the fact that economic growth has remained low in France in 2016? The pace of economic growth is accelerating throughout the euro area and the unemployment rate is falling, including in France, but at a slightly slower pace. The ECB’s monetary policy has made a strong contribution and the reforms implemented in each country have played a role. The countries that were severely affected by the financial crisis have had to undertake reforms. The reforms that they have implemented, particularly in the labour market, have been hard but are now bearing fruit. In Spain, for example, growth is set to be above 3% in 2016 and the unemployment rate is falling rapidly. France, which weathered the crisis better, faced less pressure to undertake reforms. Today growth in France is weaker and unemployment is higher.
BIS Review 90/1999  2  Public sector The financial position of the public sector has been strengthened appreciably in recent years, partly as a result of decreased unemployment, but also because interest expenditure on government debt has been reduced as a consequence of lower interest rates and debt repayment. This has been accompanied by comparatively high tax payments from households as well as the corporate sector. For 1998 the financial surplus – measured as public sector revenue less expenditure – was almost SEK 40 billion, which is equivalent to over 2% of GDP. In recent years the central government budget process has been changed with a view to tightening the control of government spending. The new budget process includes a spending ceiling that sets the maximum level for central government expenditures. In addition to the new budget process, the goal has been established of achieving a general government financial surplus equivalent to 2% of GDP over the business cycle. Thus, the goal is formulated in terms of the average over the business cycle, not as an annual target. These rules do not owe their existence to happenstance. Both the expenditure ceiling and the goal of a government financial surplus over the business cycle serve to promote greater confidence in economic policy. The direction of budget policy, like the monetary stance, is highly important for economic developments. The observance of these rules is important. Stable fundamental rules encourage economic agents to make long-term decisions.

There is the problem, however, that evidence of good results – be they in the national economy or in one’s own enterprise – tend to weaken demands for changes which are needed for more sustainable achievements. I would also say that the less one does in the good years, the tougher the going is likely to be when times are worse. Not infrequently, necessary measures are not taken until a crisis is actually looming. Today we are reaping the harvest from many important structural changes that were implemented during the crisis in the first half of the 1990s. It is up to every decision-maker to consider which measures we can now take in order to create robust long-term conditions for the economy. BIS Review 90/1999  4