samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
And, of course, our interest in low and stable inflation is not just to create Monetary Stability but more widely to create a stable macroeconomic environment in which firms of all sizes have the confidence to plan ahead with some certainty. Thus there is a strong overlap between our monetary role and our second core purpose, which is to ensure that the financial system remains stable and sound. Our MOU with the Treasury and the FSA provides us with a responsibility for the financial system as a whole, requiring us to look for possible shocks, emanating internally or from overseas, that might disrupt the stability of financial markets. The third of our core purposes is to ensure that the UK financial system works as efficiently and effectively as possible in meeting the needs of the wider economy. One dimension of this is to try to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses in the UK can obtain funding on a competitive basis. In creating an entrepreneurial economy, small companies continue to be one of the vital engines of innovation and growth. The background environment Today you will have heard a great deal about what underpins an entrepreneurial economy. It involves both the public and private sectors, and most importantly successful partnership between the two. A prime example of this is the nurturing of an enterprise culture through an alliance of the higher education system with initiatives, like business incubation, which often involve the private sector.

You have heard today of the important contribution that can be made by both formal and informal venture capital, as well as the role of financial institutions such as the London Stock Exchange. The accountancy profession itself also has a key role to play. As the Governor said in his speech to the Institute’s Annual Dinner on 28 March - I hasten to add in the serious part - we could not do without  1  BIS Review 39/2000  accountants. The accountancy profession provides financial information and frequently more general company advice to small firms. Alongside this there are various channels of government support. As outlined by David Irwin, the Small Business Service - in partnership with others - will provide this service in England and Wales. The role of small firms in creating the entrepreneurial economy It is now widely acknowledged small firms are a source of dynamism, wealth creation and employment. As such, they have not only made a significant and direct contribution to UK growth in the last 10 years but also to the development of a more flexible labour market, and the introduction of new technology and ideas. Market failures in the provision of finance to small firms could potentially, therefore, have far reaching consequences for economic performance. All firms need to work hard to overcome the information asymmetry which is inherent in any bank lending relationship, but which is especially challenging perhaps for the small company sector.
Figure 12 Risk premiums in emerging economies (1) (basis points) Sovereign bonds (2) Corporate bonds (3)  350  350 800 Latin America  Latin America (4)  300  300 700  250  250 600  Europe (right axis)  Europe (6)  200 500  200 Asia (5)  150  150 400  100  100 300 Chile  50 14  15  16  50 17  200  Chile  Asia  14  15  16  17  Net capital flows to Latin America (billions of dollars, moving month)  1.400 5 4 1.200 3 1.000 2 1 800 0 -1 600 -2 400 -3 -4 200 -5  5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5  Equity  Bonds 15  16  17  (1) Dotted vertical line marks statistical cutoff date for the December 2016 Monetary Policy Report. (2) Measured by 5-year CDS premiums. Simple average of each region' countries. (3) Measured by the CEMBI. (4) Includes Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru. (5) Includes China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. (6) Includes Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey. Sources: Bloomberg and Emerging Portfolio Fund Research.

For the emerging world, even more so amidst less developed capital markets, as an alternative source of growth funding. However, during the process of transition, given the still rather weak economic recovery, the reform may have some negative implications for the financial markets, credit activity and growth dynamics. The fact that these reforms were primarily tailored to the specifics of the more advanced economies (AE), where the financial crisis, originally rooted from points to a possibility of asymmetric effects for advanced and emerging economies (EE) during the transitional process. As EE’s and AE’s economies intrinsically differ in terms of the level of financial and economic development, it is to be expected for the financial regulatory reform to have asymmetric impact on both groups of countries. Possible, unintended adverse impact on emerging market might occur, both through the direct channel of transmission (via the direct implementation of the new regulation), but also through the indirect channel, as the foreign banks in the emerging market change their behavior in response to the new regulatory standards. The deleveraging process is one of the well known indirect impacts, with large consequences, particularly in the emerging Europe. As the international regulatory reform process is very complex, some of the measures have long sequencing of implementation, and for some of the reform areas there are more observations and analyses to be done to define the final contours of the new financial system, more precise assessment of the impact seems challenging.
Second, there is the question of the relative weight of exchange rate stability, as is emphasised in the Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF, and forward-looking monetary policy, which aims to anchor inflation expectations and attain the inflation target while combating the slack in the economy. The third complicating factor is the interplay between monetary policy and plans to lift restrictions on capital outflows. But before I turn to these questions, I would like to discuss the current outlook and future prospects for the Icelandic economy. I believe we are at economic crossroads, as we have taken considerable strides towards stability, whereas robust recovery has been elusive. First, let us consider the signs of stability. External imbalances have vanished. The staggering current account deficit from the upswing years has turned into a sizeable underlying surplus, which excludes interest that has been accrued by the estates of the failed banks but will only be paid in part. The underlying current account surplus supports the exchange rate, but the capital controls do so as well. The króna stopped falling in mid-2009 and has needed no support from foreign exchange market intervention since early November 2009. So far in 2010, the króna has appreciated by over 12% in trade-weighted terms. Since the end of August, the Central Bank has actually been leaning in the other direction and has bought about 3 b.kr. worth of foreign currency.

This is not a large amount, of course, but a modest beginning can grow into something large, and it will be possible to step up the purchases when foreign currency inflows increase from current levels. The stability and subsequent appreciation of the króna have played a leading role in the recent disinflation episode, with inflation falling from 18% in early 2009 to 3.3% in October 2010. Excluding tax effects, inflation measures only 2.6%, which is very close to the Central Bank’s inflation target. Headline inflation now looks set to reach the inflation target by the end of this year. But the slack in the economy has also played a major role, as has cautious monetary policy relative to the circumstances. It is emphatically not a given that this progress should be made, and spare capacity in the economy does not produce price stability by itself, as innumerable examples illustrate, the most dramatic among them the runaway inflation in Germany’s Weimar Republic and, more recently, Zimbabwe. It was therefore necessary to achieve exchange rate stability and bring inflation expectations down towards the target. This could not have happened if the Central Bank had complied with the wishes of those who went furthest in demanding a sudden, steep, and untimely interest rate cut. But in spite of all  BIS Review 158/2010  1  this, interest rates have fallen significantly.
It also dropped the interest rate to a historical low of 1.5%, which reduces the cost of financing for entities granted such support and stimulates economic growth. As a result of these steps, the banking sector now has high liquidity levels and maneuvering capacity that enable it to fulfill its duty as financial intermediary. Central Bank of Kuwait - Public ‫ عام‬- ‫بنك الكويت المركزي‬  -6-  The Role of the Government: The role of the government takes on an even greater importance amid the current conditions. The lockdown measures caused an unprecedented shock to both supply and demand, this coincided with a sharp decline in oil prices that brought down government revenues. The Committee was therefore keen to provide maximum support to guarantee that the economy keeps running, while simultaneously reducing cost to public funds to a minimum, through the proper allocation of resources and reliance on measures that have the biggest impact with the least cost possible. Among these measures was drawing up a government financing support and guarantee scheme, which was presented to the Council of Ministers by the Committee on 5 June 2020. Government financing support and guarantee scheme: The committee forwarded a proposed government financing support and guarantee scheme to the Council of Ministers to decide and take appropriate action in this respect.

In addition, the Public Institution for Social Security also postponed subscription payments. Government fee waivers were extended to impacted institutions, and banks extended moratoriums on affected customers’ loans. The Committee had also communicated with all  1  Chapter Five refers to Kuwaitis registered with the Public Institution for Social Security as self-employed. Chapter Three refers to Kuwaitis registered with the Public Institution for Social Security as working for a private sector employer. 2  Central Bank of Kuwait - Public ‫ عام‬- ‫بنك الكويت المركزي‬  -5-  government entities urging them to swiftly pay their dues to the private sector and is following up in this regard. The Committee further proposed an amendment on provisions of the Labor Law that takes into consideration special and extra-ordinary circumstances and gives more flexibility for both employer and employee. It also presented to the Council of Ministers a proposal to postpone evictions of tenants in commercial real estate. Lastly, the Committee proposed setting up courts specialized in economic, commercial, and financial affairs in view of the unique nature of this sector and the real need for judicial expertise in this field, especially amid expectations of an increase in disputes in this field that the court system would have to address upon resumption of activity. The Banking Sector: As the financial intermediaries in our national economy and the sector entrusted with the community’s savings, it is vital to maintain financial stability and to encourage the banking sector to extend financing.
The future size of the Petroleum Fund depends on oil price developments. The guideline ensures that we only use the return on wealth that has already been accumulated. This makes policy robust to changes in oil prices and ensures that petroleum wealth will be of benefit both today and in the future. The guideline provides a framework that contributes to making the central government budget an appropriate tool for setting political priorities. It sets a limit on the share of petroleum revenues that the government can use each year and does not distinguish between domestic and foreign spending. This eliminates the waste of resources that two separate budgets would necessarily entail. The government invests petroleum wealth in foreign securities through the Petroleum Fund. Government wealth is thereby more diversified. These investments have no impact on the Norwegian capital market. Both mainland private saving and business fixed investment have been high in recent years. In Norway, credit and capital markets nevertheless feature some weaknesses, with thin securities markets and a narrow investor and ownership base compared with other countries. The reasons, and hence the solutions, can probably be found in the structure of the taxation of dwellings, property and financial assets, in a high level of state ownership of enterprises and in the organisation of pension saving in Norway. Investing even more government capital in Norway would reduce the return on investments in the Norwegian business sector and prompt other investors to invest elsewhere.

All stakeholders, including the financial institutions, payment system providers, the authorities, the corporate sector, and the consumers, have their respective roles to play to support this national agenda to reduce the use of paper-based payment instruments, particularly cheques, in Malaysia. In this regard, the Government had recently announced in the 2006 Budget its intent to increase the acceptance of electronic means of payment with the Government and to promote the use of epayments nationwide. This should provide a catalyst for the adoption of e-payments on a national scale, as most individuals and businesses have payment transactions with the Government. Key to making this a success is the need to review the business and operating practices and address any impediments that may hinder the use of e-payments. These practices ranges from the inability to store and collect bank account numbers, acknowledging electronic payment and receipt notices, instructing payments electronically, and many more that may be identified during the discussions at this forum. All corporations and institutions that are present at this forum should consider undertaking a business process reengineering in your own organisation to fully use the e-payment channels that are being offered by the service providers and the financial institutions.
Chart 7 looks at the response of bank and sovereign CDS spreads around the time of bank bail-outs in a selection of crisis countries. While bail-outs lowered bank CDS spreads, as might be expected, bail-out came at the expense of a rise in sovereign CDS spreads. It is not difficult to see why. The financial crisis has caused huge damage to the balance sheets of governments in advanced economies. For the G20 countries, the IMF forecast that the debt-to-GDP ratio will rise by almost 40 percentage points between 2007 and 2016, to almost 120%. At these levels, public sector debt may be a significant drag on medium-term growth (Rogoff and Reinhart (2010)). For economies with large banking systems and without a credible resolution regime, this leaves policymakers caught between a rock and hard place. When the call comes to ride to the banking rescue, government may be unable to afford not to. But nor, at least over the medium term, can they afford to. This is just the dilemma facing advanced countries today. Structural reform One way of lessening that dilemma, and at the same making resolution and bail-in more credible, is to act on the scale and structure of banking directly. Perhaps not surprisingly, recent regulatory reforms have sought to do just that. They have taken seriously the maxim that, if a bank is too big to fail, then it is too big. The result has been detailed proposals for structural reform in a number of advanced countries.

There may be a distance to travel before banking is the right size. BIS central bankers’ speeches  9  Chart 1  Chart 2  Bank assets/GDP in selected countries  Banking concentration in selected countries UK United States Germany Switzerland UK 1921-70  Percent 500 450  MaximumMinimum range  400  Concentration (%) 90 80 70  Average 350  60  300  50  250  40  200  30  150  20  100  10  50  0 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011  0 1870  1890  1910  1930  1950  1970  1990  Source: Jorda, Schularick and Taylor (2011)  Source: Bank of England calculations, Capie, F. and Webber, A.
The international community has been active since in putting in place arrangements for more advance warning of risks to the financial system. The accent has been on improved disclosure, establishing new international standards for transparency in monetary and financial policies and for publication of economic and reserves data forcountries to follow; and for firms (in particular, banks) in developing countries improving standards for corporate financial disclosure. The Bank has been actively involved in these initiatives. For example, to watch over the financial system, in order to permit either early warning of an impending crisis or to permit the coordination of a speedy response to problems, a new body was established, the Financial Stability Forum; and this body brings together representatives from central banks, governments and regulators from most of the major world economies. All this may seem a long way from South Wales but the stability of different parts of the financial system, here and overseas, can have a significant impact on what is happening in our back yard, not least because of the importance of foreign direct investment from countries such as Korea into the United Kingdom, and particularly here in Wales. Core purpose: effectiveness of financial services There is a connection here to the Bank’s third core purpose - promoting the efficiency and competitiveness of UK financial services. The Bank has been active in particular in promoting financing for small business. This role dates back to 1993 in the aftermath of the last recession.

One example is the work involved with preparation for the Millennium date change, in which the Bank was heavily involved in ensuring that the UK financial system was ready; this work certainly brought home to me the reliance on IT and the huge variety of interconnections between different systems. While IT networks and improvements in communications have allowed provision of financial services more cheaply and efficiently, they have also brought financial markets around the world closer together. This trend to globalisation has been beneficial to the UK. Net investment income and profits from overseas make an increasingly large contribution to the UK balance of payments, going some way to offset the deficit on traded goods. However, with global markets, shocks in one part of the world are transmitted more quickly to other financial systems. The most recent example was the Asian crisis, starting in the summer of 1997 in Thailand; and spreading to Korea which had to seek outside support in December of that year. As turmoil spread through financial markets in the region, within a year equity markets had halved in value with a similar depreciation in exchange rates. Conditions were further exacerbated in August 1998 by the default on Russian government debt, fuelling further fears about emerging market debt. The flight to quality this prompted contributed in turn to the collapse of one of the large US hedge funds, Long-Term Capital Management. The events of 1997 and 1998 brought home the complex linkages between financial markets in a global economy.
The expansionary credit policy, combined with monetary financing of large general government deficits in turn put foreign exchange and monetary policy under considerable strain. The result was hardly surprisingly inflation and a depreciation of Sweden’s currency. Today the time when Sweden’s central bank could be forced to finance war efforts in far-away countries seems very distant. Of course, the financial system was also entirely different a couple of hundred years ago. But the fundamental principles for the credibility of monetary policy and that it should not be possible to use the central bank for “short-term” purposes, remain largely the same. …and experiences closer to our time. There are also examples of the importance of a clear framework for economic policy even in modern times. At the beginning of the 1990s Sweden underwent the deepest economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s. This also came to be a rather dramatic conclusion to almost 20 years of stabilisation policy problems. The economic policy conducted in the 1970s and 1980s was for various reasons overly expansionary and not compatible with the monetary policy objective of the time – to maintain a fixed exchange rate. Price and wage developments repeatedly came on a collision course with the fixed exchange rate target and Sweden suffered cost crises. As a temporary solution the krona was devalued when the situation became acute – a strategy they adopted on no less than five occasions in just seven years. But the depreciation of the krona did not solve the fundamental problem.

Most of us probably think, for example, that the decisions regarding the length of the runway at an airport should be taken by experts at the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority and that the approval of new drugs should be managed by the Medical Products Agency, rather than by political voting. But as I mentioned earlier, the delegation of an important social issue such as monetary policy also requires evaluation and accountability – necessary conditions for public support and legitimacy. This, and the need for openness in this context, is something I will now discuss in a little more detail. The need for openness and clarity Independence makes demands of evaluation and accountability Some of the demands made of us on the basis of our role as authority are fairly self-evident. We must, for instance, to the best of our ability try to meet the price stability target we have been allocated. In addition, we must also be able to explain to the general public in a suitable manner the motives behind our decisions. The Riksbank’s independence and the requirement for legitimacy also mean that it must be possible, not least from the point of view of democracy, to evaluate our work – how we have done – and to hold us accountable. How does this work?
Tongurai Limpiti: Future of Thai banking system – the road towards AEC 2015 Keynote address by Ms Tongurai Limpiti, Deputy Governor for Corporate Support Services and Banknote Management of the Bank of Thailand, at the IDC Financial Insights, Thailand Financial Services Summit 2012, Bangkok, 8 November 2012. *  *  *  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to join all of you today and I would like to thank the IDC Financial Insights for inviting me to deliver a keynote address at this event. The title of my remark today is about “Future of Thai Banking System: the Road towards AEC 2015”. I think that this issue is appropriate and timely as we are now approaching a new face of regional economic integration, or the ASEAN Economic Community, which will come into effect in 2015. To be aware of its impacts and to identify company positions and strategy in responding to its impacts would be of a great benefit. I hope that this event will provide a very good opportunity for us to share experiences and views on the way to move forward. With the given time, I will use this opportunity to touch on three topics which are current situation of Thai banking system and the new challenges from AEC, the impacts of AEC on financial institutions, and the role of central bank.

I would like to conclude here that, to join the AEC in 2015 both central bank and financial institutions need to have proactive strategies to deal with the changing economic and social environments. The central bank will play an important role in supporting private sectors and ensuring the stability and efficiency of financial system and infrastructures. Concurrently, the financial institutions need to rethink and redesign their business processes and strategies in order to stay at the forefront of highly competitive environment as well as to reap the full benefit of the integrated economic community. Thank you. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches