samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Between 2011 and 2015, the number of cheques issued had reduced by 27%, from 205 million cheques in 2011 to 148 million cheques in 2015. At the same, the number of IBG transactions had increased by 147% from 60 million transactions in 2011 to 149 million transactions in 2015. This is a key milestone as the number of IBG transactions surpassed the number of cheques cleared for the first time. The IBFT transactions had also increased significantly by almost eight-fold from 5.8 million transactions in 2011 to 47 million transactions in 2015. This signifies greater public confidence in the use of e-payments. Such achievement is also indicative of how effective collaboration and coordinated efforts by the various stakeholders in the payment value chain could produce the intended outcomes. We should put in more effort to sustain the cheque reduction whilst promoting greater adoption of e-payments in areas where the usage of cheques is still relatively high. These areas include interbank card and loan repayment, over-the-counter cheque payments to government agencies and cheques usage in the takaful and insurance industry. Intensified efforts needed in the displacement of cash Our progress in promoting the use of debit cards as an alternative to cash however, has been modest. For the period between 2011 and 2015, there was only a marginal increase from 1 to 3 debit card transactions per capita and from 7 to 9 payment card terminals per 1,000 inhabitants.

It was during that time that we came to recognize that the relationship among monetary aggregates, inflation, and output in Thailand did not have sufficient stability and predictability to make monetary aggregates a good nominal anchor of our monetary policy. Inflation targeting then appeared as a natural choice for our new monetary policy regime. From that day onward, price stability has become the Bank of Thailand’s overriding policy objective. The core inflation rate was, as it is now, to be kept within a 0-3.5 percent range. When Thailand adopted an inflation target some six years ago, the policy regime was a relatively uncharted territory for emerging market economies. Although the history of inflation targeting dates back to 1990 with the adoption of an inflation target by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, prior to 1998, inflation targeting was pursued mostly by developed economies. The first substantial crosscountry study of inflation targeting, published by Ben Bernanke, Thomas Laubach, Frederick Mishkin and Adam Posen, who is here today, in 1999, was mainly about inflation targeting experiences of developed economies, with the exception of Israel. The situation looked vastly different from today where emerging market inflation targeters outnumber developed market ones. Ladies and gentlemen, Six years may be too short to claim definite success for inflation targeting in Thailand. Nevertheless, inflation targeting as a monetary policy framework has served us well over the period. When we first adopted an inflation target, our economy was still very much affected by the 1997 crisis.
But when we ask potential equity investors in banks what is holding them back, they often cite the uncertainty over the rules which will affect their future risk profiles and profitability. Such uncertainty will add a discount to the price of bank equity (although there are many other important factors too, such as the uncertain valuations of bank assets). Similar concerns about the rules have affected the attitude of debt investors, particularly the debates on “bailing in” senior debt. The rule makers are moving as fast as they can. The good news is that, once there is more certainty, we should expect a positive response from investors. Within, say, a year or so from now, I would expect a lot of progress to have been made such that the outlook for the financial sector is much brighter – at least in this regard. In the short-term, there can be a more explicit trade-off between growth and regulation, particularly with liquidity regulations. Holding extra liquid assets to meet regulatory buffers can compete with other assets such as loans. (That trade off is not the same for capital – capital is not an asset on a bank’s balance sheet and the nature of capital is often misunderstood). But how should the authorities introduce much needed new liquidity regulations in these depressed circumstances? We do not want to see the weakening of new long-term standards because of short-term cyclical concerns. Yet we don’t want the introduction of new regulations to make a bad economic situation worse.

BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  The FLS has been implemented in large part because of the developments in financial markets I have described: an example of the important and powerful linkages between the real economy and the financial sector. The continued uncertainties about the future of the Eurozone and about the European banking system meant that during the past two years bank funding markets have had periodic bouts of closure. And when open, spreads of bank debt over risk-free rates have remained elevated. A number of large UK banks still rely on wholesale markets for funding at the margin and higher wholesale funding costs have spilled over into other funding markets – driving up retail deposit rates for example. Prior to the announcement of the FLS, banks were passing on their elevated funding costs to their lending rates. Over the 12 months to mid-2012, we saw lending rates to businesses and for mortgages rising (Chart 5). Furthermore, the Bank of England’s 2012 Q2 Credit Conditions Survey of UK banks suggested that household secured and corporate lending rates were expected to rise further. Chart 5  Chart 6  Change in bank funding and mortgage rates between 31 July 2011 and 31 May 2012  Annual lending growth to households and companies(a)  Per cent  16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2  2004  2006  2008  2010  2012  (a) Based on scheme definition.
Economic perspectives Address by Governor Øystein Olsen to the Supervisory Council of Norges Bank and invited guests on Thursday 15 February 2018  Analyses and charts are based on information up to and including 9 February 2018  Thursday 15 february 2018  Economic perspectives 2017  Norges Bank Economic perspectives 15 february 2018  Introduction “All things will pass, even a crisis. After the darkness comes the dawn.”1 With these words, former central bank governor Nicolai Rygg summarised the turning point in the 1930s. The advanced economies have emerged from another challenging period. Ten years ago the world economy was hit by a shock and thrown into the deepest recession since the 1930s (Chart 1). Chart 1 Economic growth following the financial crisis. GDP per capita. Index. Value in year recession started = 100 120  120  Euro area (2007=100) US (2007=100) Previous recessions 1)  110  110  100  100  90  90  80  80 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Number of years before and after recession 1) The first year of a recession is defined as a year where per capita GDP growth turns negative. Previous recessions are defined as the median of all recessions in the period 1920 – 2002, based on the Jordà−Schularick−Taylor Macrohistory Database. The database covers 17 countries.

19  6  More fundamentally, to think that compensation arrangements can ensure virtue is to miss the point entirely. Integrity cannot be legislated, and it certainly cannot be bought. It must come from within. See Carney (2013). BIS central bankers’ speeches  Fourth, building a sense of vocation and responsibility To build this sense of the systemic, business ultimately needs to be seen as a vocation, an activity with high ethical standards, which in turn conveys certain responsibilities. It can begin by asking the right questions. Who does finance serve? Itself? The real economy? Society? And to whom is the financier responsible? Herself? His business? Their system? The answers start from recognising that financial capitalism is not an end in itself, but a means to promote investment, innovation, growth and prosperity. Banking is fundamentally about intermediation – connecting borrowers and savers in the real economy. In the run-up to the crisis, banking became about banks not businesses; transactions not relations; counterparties not clients. New instruments originally designed to meet the credit and hedging needs of businesses quickly morphed into ways to amplify bets on financial outcomes. When bankers become detached from end-users, their only reward becomes money. Purely financial compensation ignores the non-pecuniary rewards to employment, such as the satisfaction from helping a client or colleague succeed. This reductionist view of the human condition is a poor foundation for ethical financial institutions needed to support long-term prosperity.
Moreover, many firms have been able to raise their profit margins in sectors faced with constrained supply and resurgent demand. The energy price shock implies a hit to the domestic economy, which should be absorbed by both firms and workers in order to ensure that it does not lead to a spiral of upward price and wage adjustments. In the baseline of our latest staff projections, headline inflation has been revised down, mainly reflecting a smaller contribution from energy prices than previously expected. We now see inflation averaging 5.3% in 2023, 2.9% in 2024 and 2.1% in 2025. At the same time, underlying price pressures remain strong. Inflation excluding energy and food is expected to average 4.6% in 2023, which is higher than foreseen in the December projections. Subsequently, it is projected to come down to 2.5% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025, as the upward pressures from past supply shocks and the reopening of the economy fade out and as tighter monetary policy increasingly dampens demand. As inflation is projected to remain too high for too long, the Governing Council last week decided to increase the three key ECB interest rates by 50 basis points, in line with our determination to ensure the timely return of inflation to our 2% medium-term target.

The NCA also has a very important role in the prevention of pollution and emergency response in the event of spillages. The NCA head office’s Department for Emergency Response is located here in Horten. We at Norges Bank are very proud of the new banknote series – primarily because they are the most secure banknotes we have ever issued, but also because we are very pleased with the choice of motifs and theme. The new banknotes represent quite a significant break with Norwegian banknote tradition. For the first time since the Norwegian krone was introduced in 1875, Norwegian banknotes do not feature the portraits of well-known people. This time we have chosen a different type of motif, but a motif that has one thing in common with portraits: binding Norway together as a nation. The sea, which is the theme of the new banknote series, influences our country in many different ways. The Norwegian people live by the sea and use the sea both as a transport artery and for recreation. The sea is a source of well-being, welfare and prosperity. On the reverse side of the 500-krone banknote, the faint outline of an oil platform can be seen, symbolising an industry that has helped to raise the level of prosperity in Norway in recent decades. But the sea was also important before the oil age. Cod, shown on the new 200-krone banknote, has been one of our most important export products for centuries and still is today.
CBRT Interest Rates (Percent) Non-CBRT Average O/N Funding Rate in BIST CBRT Average Funding Rate 1 Week Repo Rate Late Liquidity Window  14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6  02.17  01.17  12.16  11.16  10.16  09.16  08.16  07.16  06.16  05.16  04.16  03.16  02.16  01.16  5  Source: TURKSTAT, CBRT. I would like to underline that the recent policy we have been implementing is not equivalent to the previous discretionary monetary policy under a flexible corridor framework where the policy stance shifted at daily and weekly frequencies. This is a clear and stable policy tightening which will be preserved until we see a considerable improvement in medium term inflation dynamics. The significant tightening in the monetary policy stance can also be observed directly by looking at the yield curves. The left side figure shown below compares the most recent yield curve with the one materialized in early January, right before the CBRT response (Figure 13). It is clear that the short-end has shifted up and the longer-end has fallen, which is a typical response after a credible monetary tightening. As another indicator of the monetary tightening in time dimension, the 9  right side figure below shows the evolution of the slope of the yield curve at the cross currency swap market, which also clearly reveals a flattening in the yield curve (Figure 14). Figure 13. Figure 14.

Turkey has faced a series of significant shocks in the past years. Most recently, the slowdown in the economic activity, tightening in financial conditions, sharp currency depreciation, and rising inflation have necessitated a coordinated action by all relevant authorities. Central Bank has mainly focused on inflation and FX developments during this period. We used our rich toolkit to tighten monetary policy, but at the same time provided liquidity support to FX market through reserve requirements and other tools. As part of the coordinated policy mix, other authorities have taken a series of measures to support the credit channel and economic activity. In order to stimulate the loan supply and demand, the bank regulation authority has released some of the buffers accumulated in recent years, including the maturity restrictions and loan-loss provisions. The government has announced a stimulus package to contain a possible adverse feedback loop between economic activity and loan supply. To this end, collateral conditions were eased for corporates, several incentives were provided to stimulate investments and exports, direct support for SME loans were provided through government guarantee schemes and loan restructuring processes. Most recently, tax cuts have been introduced for certain durable products to support demand and production without generating inflation. 11  Moreover, as a reflection of the enhanced fiscal-monetary policy coordination, the finance ministry announced clearly that no tax hikes are envisaged in 2017.
Although sterling was in the spotlight for much of the year, two key episodes stand out: the sharp adjustment in the exchange rate  1  These issues are examined in more detail in a Financial Stability Paper released by the Bank in October 2015 which draws together a body of analysis looking across a number of previous events of this nature. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/Pages/fpc/fspapers/fs_paper34.aspx 2 And by 15% on a trade-weighted basis. 2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  2  immediately after the referendum result, and the so-called flash event in the early (UK) hours of 7 October (Chart 1). Markets displayed resilience in the immediate aftermath of the referendum: the record 11% depreciation of 3  sterling against the US dollar that took place over the succeeding two trading days was accompanied by exceptionally high trading volumes (Chart 2). The market facilitated an orderly correction in the sterling exchange rate, while enabling individual participants to adjust their portfolios in response to the news, and can therefore be reasonably judged to have functioned effectively. This was aided in no small part by the well-telegraphed nature of the event. Informed by the lesson of the CHF de-peg a year and a half earlier, our market intelligence was that dealers engaged in extensive planning and preparation to cater for the possibility of sharp movements in sterling, including by reducing trading positions, pre-defining trading strategies and risk appetites for a range of scenarios, recalibrating algorithms and engaging in conversation with their clients to manage their expectations.

This is faster than we expected at the outset, perhaps because the auctions have acted to boost secondary market liquidity by more than we had allowed for. So far our approach to setting reserve spreads has also successfully driven the Bank’s holdings towards our ‘sector key’ (Chart 9), and I am confident it will continue to enable us to make our purchases in a neutral manner across economic sectors. So while our purchase pace will continue to depend on the nature of the offers we receive, and portfolio matching constraints are likely to become more binding as we near the purchase target, it seems probable that the Bank will be able to complete the purchase programme faster than we thought possible to begin with. Conclusion  In concluding, I hope my remarks have helped demonstrate that a detailed understanding of market structure is a core part of effective central banking. From the experience of 2016 I’d draw two specific lessons. First, so long as central banks design their operations carefully, drawing on study of the relevant market structures, they retain the capability to broaden the range of policy tools at their disposal. The early success of the corporate bond scheme – both in effectively purchasing the bonds and in terms of initial evidence about the transmission to wider economy of those purchases – underscores the continued scope for central banks to innovate when circumstances dictate that need.
During 2004, Albania’s balance of payments recorded a flow of financial assets and capitals of about 1.5 times higher than the previous year. The rise of inflows in the financial account and the non-deepening of current deficit brought about the increase of foreign reserves by about USD 290 million over 2004. Albania’s foreign reserve is sufficient to cover about 5.2 months of imports of goods and services. 4  Government debt including other sectors debt guaranteed by Government. BIS Review 38/2005  3  Notwithstanding the positive developments of the recent years, the economic growth and the macroeconomic stability of the country are two parameters, which, according to our consideration, cannot and should be considered as issues already accomplished. The high trade deficit requires the ability to find stable long-term coverage resources, especially to promote foreign direct investments, which will raise the productive capacities of the Albanian economy. A major interest should be given particularly to the sectors such as agriculture and tourism. Fiscal policy must continue to conserve its positive contribution in the consolidation of the macroeconomic stability, a contribution being expressed in the reduction of budget deficit, in the increase of income and in the establishment of priorities according to the National Strategy for the Socio-economic Development, in the performance of budget expenses.

This positive economic growth has been broad-based, extending beyond the recovery of the mining sector and has withstood adverse shocks, such as, droughts and increases in oil prices. For example in 2006, real GDP growth was largely driven by the mining, construction, and transport sectors. Other sectors that registered positive growth were agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and the services sectors. Ladies and Gentlemen, bringing inflation down to single digits has been Government’s goal for a long time. Therefore, it is pleasing to note that last year inflation fell to its lowest level in 30 years. At end December 2006, the annual rate of inflation had fallen to 8.2 % compared to the annual target of 10% and the 15.9% outturn in 2005. In January 2007, it remained in single digit level of 9.8%. These unprecedented developments in inflation have been due to continued implementation of prudent monetary and fiscal policies, coupled with increased food supply. In line with lower inflation and yields on Government securities, the average commercial banks’ lending rate declined further to around 28 % in December 2006 from about 34 % in December 2005. In January 2007, it slightly declined to about 27 %. Mr Chairman, clearly, there is a need for commercial banks to do more to reduce lending rates in order to influence a substantial expansion of private sector credit. Lower lending rates will contribute to the reduction in the cost of doing business in Zambia.
Caruana, the Bank of Spain governor, has become the driving force in one of the most controversial regulatory efforts in decades, said he was prepared to intensify efforts to convince those affected of the accord's merits. “There is a unanimous understanding of the need for Basel II,” he said. “It is a completely new approach and in that sense you could say that it is a kind of revolution.” To the ramparts Caruana defended the accord, saying the U.S. decision to apply the new rules to only the top 10 banks - instead of all banks as Europe intends - met the spirit of the accord because U.S. banks already met high regulatory capital standards. “We respect their decision. We think this is perfectly compatible with Basel II. Europe has taken a different decision,” he said. Caruana rejected concerns that it could dry up some capital markets, as banks fear, as some market activities could be assigned a higher risk weighting under the new accord. “Frankly speaking, we don't think that this is a problem. The strategic decisions that banks have already taken are based on economic capital and the accord should not change this,” he said. Daniele Nouy, secretary general of the Basel Committee and Caruana's top assistant, said in the same interview that banks already assigned a cushion of economic capital to their different areas of activities, including market activities. The new accord should broadly follow existing practices. “We don't anticipate as many changes as people believe,” she told Reuters.

12 Short Message Services are also used in the case of many other public services ― in the Philippines, crime victims are able to monitor the progress of investigation using text messages. In Singapore, citizens can order the service of SMS-reminders about dates of payment the road tax, return of books to the library or extension of the passport expiry date. They can also receive medical examination results using SMS. 13 The public sector faces a great challenge of provision of services aimed at the comfort of citizens (customers) rather than at the comfort of clerks, as it used to be for many years. It entails not only the necessity to change the way of communication with citizens, but it also forces public offices to adjust their internal processes and enhance their cooperation. As a consequence, projects such as “any door is good” are launched, whereby each office assumes the responsibility to provide an answer to a received query, even if the query goes beyond its authority. Another project entitled “one case — one contact point” is operated in many countries, under which registration of a new company is possible online, by filling all the necessary forms (for registration, tax, statistical etc. authorities) available on a website and authorizing them by means of the electronic signature. Integration of all the “back office” functions and processes has enabled Estonia to hold the world’s first online elections. In October 2005, more than 9000 Estonians cast their votes in e-elections.