samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
While this kind of booking businesses may inflate the size of Hong Kong’s banking system in terms of total assets, it does not, as we have learnt from the experience of the euro yen booking in the 1990s, bring about much real benefits to Hong Kong in terms of job creation or enhancement of the credit underwriting skills of the bank practitioners. The lending institutions did not perform any meaningful risk management functions in booking these euro yen businesses. As we all know, the euro yen business in Hong Kong, driven by tax reasons, faded away right after the Asian Financial Crisis. 4. That is why the HKMA has made it clear in the past 10 years that we do not welcome banks moving “pure” booking business to Hong Kong. Our position is that, in booking any loans or other assets in Hong Kong, the banks must demonstrate that they have the necessary capability and control process to prudently manage the risks of these assets, both at origination and on an ongoing basis. Then there is still the basic question: how do we attract financial flows to Hong Kong instead of to other financial centres? There is a bit of chicken and egg problem here. Unless restrained by capital controls, money is highly agile and risk sensitive and will migrate to centres that offer the greatest efficiency and safety. In other words, money tends to move through centres that provide a high standard of risk management.

Compared with Taylor 1993 it can achieve significantly greater stability in employment without sacrificing the medium-term inflation objective or significantly increasing the variability of inflation outcomes. Finally, the remaining parameter in the Taylor Rule is the neutral, real short-term interest rate. This is the interest rate adjusted for inflation that neither stimulates nor slows the economy. It is typically set at 2 percent. Although there is no reason why the neutral real rate cannot change over time, the 2 percent rate is typically plugged in without further attention. Whether this is appropriate is a critical question in today’s economic environment that I will return to a bit later. Let me now discuss the economic outlook, and examine some of the implications for monetary policy. In doing so I will look at results obtained by applying some variants of the Taylor Rule, and explain some of my concerns about using simple policy rules in a mechanical way for setting monetary policy. As I see it, the U.S. economy is continuing to slowly recover from the after-effects of the housing boom and bust and the financial crisis. But the recovery has been disappointing. Indeed, when we look back at economic forecasts made over the past three or four years it is notable that growth has systematically fallen short of both the Federal Reserve and private-sector forecasts.
That includes ensuring that the common monetary policy is properly transmitted to all sectors of the economy and to all countries, and to prevent the financial fragmentation of the area. We also stand ready to adapt all our instruments should it be necessary. Naturally, we must also remain vigilant regarding the risks to financial stability. Evidently, the banking sector is facing this crisis from a healthier position than in the previous recession, which highlights the importance of the far-reaching changes made in this sector over the past decade. The ECB has also taken resolute action here. Among other measures, it has allowed banks to use the capital buffers available, which were created precisely for situations such as the present one. But, undoubtedly, the crisis will significantly impact the quality of banks’ credit portfolios, on a scale that will depend on its ultimate severity and which will be uneven across banks. The outcome will depend on banks’ starting position, on their business model and on the distribution of their exposures to the sectors and regions most affected by the pandemic. Accordingly, we supervisors must continue to closely monitor the risks to financial stability and we must be ready to provide a forceful, panEuropean response should such risks materialise. In short, European and national economic authorities must share the objective of preventing the current crisis from being accompanied by an across-the-board tightening of financing conditions or from seriously harming the stability of the financial system.

The fiscal surplus has reflected the simultaneous decline of public income and expenditure, respectively 5.3% and 5.5%, year on year. As regards expenditures, capital expenditures decreased whereas current expenditures increased during this period. Foreign trade data point to about 8.7% annual contraction of Albanian exports, in January, while imports annual growth rates slowed down to 4.5%. These developments in the foreign trade were materialised in wider trade deficit, which expanded by about 13.8% from a year  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  earlier. The performance of this indicator during the first two months of the year may be subject to temporary factors. Its dynamic and developments in the future will be monitored. Foreign demand has been the main driver of our aggregate demand over the last two years and, in Bank of Albania’s view, will continue to provide small positive impact in 2012. Monetary developments were in line with the performance of the real economy. Their analysis confirms the existence of low monetary inflationary pressures on the economy. Broad money, monetary aggregate M3, decelerated its annual growth to 8.1% in January. On the demand side, this performance has been affected by low demand for funds by the public and private sectors in January. Annual private sector credit pursued the downtrend that had started in the last quarter of 2011, settling at 9.9% in January. Its performance has reflected lower demand for credit by both businesses and households.
None of it is, of course, either new or original. But understanding the language of unemployment matters. Richard Rogerson, in the Journal of Economic Perspectives last year, posed the question: “Have the language and concepts developed by economists in their study of unemployment served their role of fostering clear communication of findings and allowing issues to be sharply defined?” Professor Rogerson’s conclusion, you will perhaps not be surprised to hear, was a resounding no. Neither the natural rate nor the NAIRU are terms well chosen to win friends and influence people. After all, there is nothing natural about the natural rate. Whatever we call them, it is crucial to recognise that there is considerable uncertainty about the location of both the natural rate of unemployment and the NAIRU. Even in the United States, where there appears to be no obvious trend in the natural rate, estimates of the 95% confidence interval for the NAIRU are typically from 5% to 7.5%. In the UK where both structural reforms and macroeconomic shocks have had a larger impact than in the US, the range of uncertainty is even greater. Perhaps the most honest answer to the question of what is the natural rate was that given by Milton Friedman to the Wall Street Journal in January 1995: “I don’t know what the natural rate is, neither do you, and neither does anyone else.”  The labour market and monetary policy in practice? How do these concepts affect monetary policy in practice?

Many countries are now on the right track. Ireland, Spain and Portugal, for example, have implemented a series of reforms; they have become more competitive and their economies are recovering. And yet, in some euro area countries, unemployment remains very high, especially among young people. In addition, many countries still have large public deficits and high levels of debt. So further reforms are necessary here. The same applies to goods markets and the general business environment. In many Member States bureaucratic hurdles have to be overcome in order to start a business, and not only in the crisis countries. Removing such administrative barriers is much  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  less expensive than national recovery plans, and can contribute significantly to sustained growth and increasing prosperity. 2 It is all the more worrying that the OECD in its recent “Economic Policy Reforms” report notes that particularly in the euro area countries the pace of reform is slowing. It would be disastrous if necessary reforms cannot be implemented or, if implemented, reforms were even to be withdrawn. That would slow down, or even totally impede, the necessary economic upswing. Central banks would then come under pressure to counteract this by pursuing an exceptionally loose monetary policy. A stable monetary union rests on the shoulders of individual Member States. Sound economic and responsible fiscal policies at national level are an essential basis for a stable monetary union.
Thomas Jordan: The Swiss franc – a success story Address by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the launch of the book Der Schweizer Franken – eine Erfolgsgeschichte (The Swiss franc – a success story), Zurich, 3 October 2012. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to begin by welcoming you all to the launch of the book Der Schweizer Franken – eine Erfolgsgeschichte. Since this book was commissioned by the Swiss National Bank, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words as to how it came about. After I have finished, first Hans-Peter Thür, publishing director of NZZ Libro, and then Professor Baltensperger, the book’s author, will speak to you. After their comments, and before we close this event with a standing lunch, you will have the opportunity to ask questions. The German theologist, Hans von Keler, 1 is said to have commented “History is more than what has already happened; it is the layers of the past beneath our feet, the ground on which we lay our foundations”, and it seems to me to be particularly fitting for today’s book launch. Institutions do not just fall from the sky – they are created by people. Switzerland’s present monetary and currency institutions have come into being as the result of a gradual process. Professor Baltensperger’s book is an impressive account of the efforts to establish sound institutions over a period of more than 150 years.

Located within the NBRM Library, the Center provides access to over 400 publications of the World Bank, electronic access to the World Bank databases, as well as a specifically authorized direct access to the electronic World Bank library, with a possibility to browse over 6,000 copies of professional literature. What makes this Center additionally useful for the public is that, within the cooperation with NBRM, it simultaneously provides the external users with an access also to the National Bank publications, in the form of annual reports and working papers, and to the professional literature that the NBRM Library has at its disposal. The access to all publications, as well as to the World Bank statistical database is open for all interested users in the Republic of Macedonia, because of which this Center can bear the epithet of a rich trove of knowledge, which is waiting to be used. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We live in an era of extraordinary dynamic changes. An era, where the already learned things outdate in no time, or become insufficient, while the crisis once again showed that the enigmas are far more numerous than the axiomatic truths. That is the reason that the investments in learning should be ongoing. As a Central Bank, we make constant efforts for knowledge improvement and elevation of the scientific and research capacity, not only within the Bank, but wider, as well.
However, the data, or the explanations may not count if they do not reach the public and do not influence their decisions. According to some estimates, by 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally. This means huge generation of data that can blur the official statistical information making it difficult for people to read and understand it. Obviously, to bring statistics closer to the public we need to place further focus on aspects such as putting numbers in perspective so that they can be easily understood by the wider public, language simplification, that sometimes is not an easy task for experts that are used to statistical taxonomy, segmentation of the audience (communicate not only to financial analysts and journalist, but to the broader audience, although through different channels), as well as creation of relatable content that considers what matters to the public and at the same time is educational and entertaining4. Along those lines, the National Bank, recognizing the importance of communication, engages in quite an array of activities. At the end, I feel that it is appropriate to conclude my address with the motto of the European Statistics Day 2021 "Statistics, a vaccine to protect democracy and combat the virus of disinformation". 1 "Survey of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) during COVID-19", World Bank and the  United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), brief, July 6 2020.

2 Biancotti C., Borin A., Cingano F., Tommasino P., Veronese G., "The case for a coordinated COVID-19 response: No country is an island", 18 March 2020 3 Prof. Dr FRAU-MEIGS D., "Societal Costs of Fake News in the Digital Single Market", University Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France, European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, January 2019 4 Nunes L.M, Colaço A., Marques R., Oliveira M., "When reaching is no longer enough: 8 tips to engage with Central Banks' data users", Banco de Portugal, ISI, 63 World Statistics Congress, 2021  3/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches
In the most recently published inflation assessments, it was assumed that the price stability target was not threatened during the forecast period despite the growth of demand being so strong that use of capacity was under strain at the end of the period. The majority view of the Executive Board was therefore that there was no reason to increase the repo rate. This assessment was based on free resources in the initial situation, good productivity growth, low price increases on certain recently deregulated areas, low import prices and finally low inflation expectations. It is not per se strange that GDP can increase as much as 3-4% for a couple of years without inflation sharply accelerating, if the use of resources is low initially. If the pattern from previous cyclical upswings was to be repeated, price pressure should now increase. However, it has proven difficult to identify any exact and very stable correlation. As I mentioned earlier great changes have taken place in the Swedish economy. While there are still considerable deficiencies in competition in many areas, it is nevertheless not probable that inflation will accelerate strongly in the next few years. An important reason for this is that the price stability target has now  BIS Review 48/2000  4  obtained such strong support that inflation expectations are not increasing despite a cyclical upswing that is stronger than for a very long time.

The expenditure ceiling for central government finances that sets limits for how much public activity can expand has the same effect. Many structural reforms that have improved the conditions for growth in the longer term have also been carried out during the past decades. The financial markets are wholly deregulated and the tax system is reformed so that it produces fewer distortions than before. During the 1990s, a process has been initiated which has strengthened competition in many areas. Transport, communication and energy have been deregulated. At the same time, EU membership and continued internationalisation have exposed the business sector to increased competition. However, there is still a great potential for deregulation. This applies, for instance, to many parts of service production where moreover growth prospects look favourable. A study recently carried out by the Competition Authority confirms that competition has improved during the 1990s, but also points to considerable competition deficiencies in many industries. Besides many industries in the service sector, this also applies, among others, to the construction industry where regulatory frameworks and building norms contribute to excluding competitors from other countries. The study is a follow-up of a study carried out in 1991. Its conclusion was that lack of competition and concomitant high prices was a feature of a number of the industries investigated.
  Is the policy rate higher on average if inflation in general is relatively high than if it is very low? 3 [15]  Is it useful if the central bank can counteract recessions with policy rate cuts? The answer to this question is perhaps obvious, but the question is nevertheless a useful starting point. Most people would agree that a central bank plays an important role in stabilising the economy and preventing unemployment from rising too far when recessions occur. We have seen examples in the past decade or so of powerful measures taken by central banks that have been necessary to prevent unemployment from soaring. I believe that most people would also agree that the interest rate is a good monetary policy tool. Of course, the monetary policy toolbox also contains other tools, but the interest rate is the most well-established one and the one we know most about. I am fairly certain that most people would consider it an advantage if central banks could continue using the interest rate as their man tool to stimulate the economy, counteract unemployment and hold inflation low and stable.5  Is it easier to counteract recessions if the interest rate is normally rather high than if it is very low?

I perceive them mainly as a policy statement of how the Fed intends to act in future, and a signal of its determination to achieve its objectives.18 As I see it, Fed has thus explicitly adapted its strategy to  16 The Fed’s communication so far has focused on target deviations downwards, which are compensated for by  overshooting the target. 17 For a more detailed description of “average inflation targeting”, see Nessén and Vestin (2005). 18 Powell (2020) puts it like this: “Overall, our new Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy conveys our continued strong commitment to achieving our goals, given the difficult challenges presented by the proximity of interest rates to the effective lower bound.”  9 [15]  tackle the challenges most central banks are currently facing. As the monetary policy situation in the United States has a lot in common with that in many other countries, these changes will be analysed in detail by central banks around the world. The changes can certainly be regarded as more of an “evolution” than a “revolution” of the Fed’s monetary policy.19 But they are nevertheless sufficiently large for other central banks having to examine them in detail and discuss whether they should do something similar. This also applies to the Riksbank, of course. My most important messages Let me conclude by repeating my most important messages. The pandemic has brought the international discussion on the central banks’ monetary policy framework and strategy to a head.
This is evidenced by the significant transformation of the financial system that is now more diversified with well developed financial markets and broadened product offerings, that is more competitive with home-grown regional players, that is more inclusive with higher levels of banking and insurance penetration, and with improved financial strength indicators as financial institutions are better supported by strengthened governance and risk management standards and practices. The development of Islamic finance has also made significant strides both in the domestic and international front as Malaysia evolves as an international Islamic financial hub. Enhancements to the payment infrastructure have also supported the increased use of epayment channels. With these building blocks in place, the financial system has also been progressively deregulated and liberalised. The more recent liberalisation to allow for greater foreign participation in the domestic financial markets and increased foreign presence will enhance further our financial and economic international linkages. As we move into the final phase of the Masterplan, we are confident of the strength and resilience of the domestic financial sector to face greater competition and benefit from the liberalisation measures recently announced. We have received strong interest in the new licences from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United Kingdom that bring with them strong value propositions that will add significantly to the depth and breadth of the financial sector in Malaysia. In the insurance sector, greater competition will emerge from the progressive deregulation of product rates.

Richard W Fisher: Remarks upon acceptance of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle Remarks by Mr Richard W Fisher, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, upon acceptance of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico City, 17 February 2015. *  *  *  The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve System. My relationship with Mexico has been a lifetime affair. It starts with a little boy who walked every morning in his gray flannel shorts and white shirt, a green leather satchel strapped to his back, from his home on Calle Monte Tauro to the Maud Crocker School. Along the way, tortilleras would treat him to heavily buttered and salted handmade tortillas that, by the time he arrived at school, would leave stains on his shirt, incurring the wrath of his maestras. Those maestras taught him math so well, it formed the basis for his career as an investor and banker. And despite the punishment they meted out for the butter-stained shirts, to this day whenever he goes to a Mexican restaurant in Texas, he always asks first for a tortilla that he covers in butter and salt. His granddaughters call them “Baba’s tacos.” Over a halfcentury later, they carry on a treasured tradition that started here on the streets of D.F.