samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
A third of the interviewees said that they used their cards despite a charge being levied. On the other hand, there was a lot of opposition to the idea of levying a charge in connection with cash purchases or cash withdrawals. A majority of the interviewees said that in this case they would make more payments by card and reduce the number of cash withdrawals. Common to all types of charge is that they arouse strongly negative reactions. It is not up the Riksbank to decide how the retail trade or the banks should distribute the costs for different forms of payment. But there are considerable gains to be made from a pricing model that better reflects the underlying costs – both for society and the companies. Consumers do not realise that they always pay the costs of their payments. Other countries have begun to charge for expensive cards in the retail sector and for the use of cash in the form of charges for ATM withdrawals. This has affected payment patterns. The introduction of a similar system in Sweden would, in all likelihood, also affect the choice of payments made in this country. Secure card payments However, it is not only the cost that is important for payments, but also security. And this is where card payments have a technical disadvantage in relation to cash payments. Security is important to all types of card transaction, not least when private individuals use cards for payments to different types of webshop, which is becoming increasingly common.

Although it is common today to use mobile phones for many other things than just making phone calls, our survey shows that private individuals in general are not familiar with the  9  A payment effected directly and which can be confirmed for both issuer and recipient, without delay. 10  Real Time Gross Settlement. 6  BIS Review 7/2010  concept of using their mobile phones to make payments. However, they value convenience highly and if a new payment method emerges that is more convenient than those that already exist it may have a major impact. We only have to look at payments through Internet banks, which almost 80 per cent of the interviewees in our survey use today. Another new development concerns the return of the Cash Card following its lamentable disappearance a few years ago. The new Cash Card has been developed by ICA Banken under commission of the Swedish National Debt Office and will primarily be used to make those payments that public authorities previously made in cash. There are, of course, individuals who lack access to cards and, occasionally, even to bank accounts and who are, consequently, entirely dependent upon cash. This new card differs from the previous Cash Card in that it cannot be topped up by the holder, only by the issuing party. Otherwise, it can be used like a normal debit card and will be equipped with a PIN code.
But, the rapidly changing situation of the past two years has been extraordinary, and it is worth discussing in some detail. After the onset of the pandemic, Americans shifted their spending from services to goods, spending less on restaurants, vacations, and entertainment, and more on things like cars, appliances, and furniture. As businesses tried to meet the surge in demand for goods, distribution channels backed up. Supply-chain bottlenecks and shortages emerged, both here and abroad. Too many ships arrived at the ports—particularly those in California. When the ships were finally able to dock, there weren’t enough workers and drivers to unload and transport goods to stores—or to people’s homes. In addition, we have seen a large pullback in the number of people willing and able to work, in part reflecting the challenges and risks of working during the pandemic. Some businesses can’t hire people fast enough to help meet the strong demand. This has contributed to an acceleration in wages and higher prices for a variety of goods and services, including food and housing. High inflation is hardest on those already struggling to make ends meet. The Fed’s Response This brings me to the outlook for the economy and monetary policy. As I said earlier, demand for goods and some services is now far outstripping supply, resulting in elevated inflation. With the 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  labor market already very strong, it’s important to restore the balance between supply and demand and bring inflation down.

[3] Moreover, studies have uncovered a significant lag in discerning the benefits of mitigation measures,[4] which makes it much harder to impose costs on society today if measurable results are available much later. By making the costs of a major, truly global crisis more tangible, the pandemic may help to remove the “tragedy” from Mark Carney’s horizon: after COVID-19, the dramatic consequences of a global climate crisis may be much easier to imagine. And given the need for fundamental structural change after this crisis, the willingness to use this chance to take precautions against the even bigger risk of a climate crisis may have increased. In order to achieve the European Union’s target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, our response to the growing risks of climate change has to start with the way we rebuild our economies after the pandemic. In my remarks this morning, I will argue that three complementary pillars are needed to accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon economy: an effective carbon price, a strong investment programme and a greener financial market. I will also argue that central banks have a role to play in mitigating climate-related risks, even within their traditional mandates, because global warming poses severe risks to price stability. Carbon pricing as the central tool So let me start with the first pillar, the introduction of global carbon pricing. Europe is already spearheading global efforts, which is essential at times when a global solution is not in sight.
Increasing the horizon of visibility is desirable generally, but it is true that an apparently never ending train of reform is not greatly conducive to reducing uncertainty. There is a simple solution to that: specify what we want to change, clarify the calendar to do it, and then just do it. This is exactly how the SSM was established. And that is perhaps the last area of significance of the SSM that I have not yet mentioned: it is the yardstick against which we can now judge other achievements. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches

SPEECH DATE:  30 September 2021  SPEAKER:  Martin Flodén  VENUE:  Kommuninvest (digitally)  SVERIGES RIKSBANK SE-103 37 Stockholm (Brunkebergstorg 11) Tel +46 8 787 00 00 Fax +46 8 21 05 31 registratorn@riksbank.se www.riksbank.se  SWESTR – a fully transaction-based reference rate* I would like to begin by thanking Kommuninvest for the opportunity to participate in its Finance Forum. As usual, the Finance Forum offers a highly appreciated meeting place where representatives of both authorities and the private sector can have open and fruitful discussions on current financial market issues. Thank you to Kommuninvest for that! As mentioned in Maria Viimne’s presentation, I am going to talk today about the Riksbank's new reference rate SWESTR. I will explain why the Riksbank considers that financial market participants in Sweden should now begin the transition from STIBOR, the traditional reference rate in Swedish kronor, to the Riksbank's transaction-based reference rate SWESTR. I will also describe how the Riksbank intends to be active in and support this process. However, in order to provide some context, I will first briefly explain the importance of reference rates in the financial market. I will also provide some background to the interbank rates, such as STIBOR and LIBOR, which have been dominant in the markets to date, and describe the problems with these reference rates. Reference rates fulfil a useful function in society Reference rates can be perceived as a rather technical issue and they are rarely at the centre of the daily economic debate.
Then the value of the banks’ collateral declines and this can lead to an acute crisis, if the price fall is sufficiently severe. We have seen the effects of this in practice, as I hope we all remember. Yet another issue is what effect the downturn on the stock market may have had on the real economy and thereby on economic activity. Of course, a deep recession could comprise a threat to the stability of the banking system, but this seems an unlikely prospect at present and I do not intend to take up that issue today. Is a financial sector a good thing to have? It is easy to express irritation in sweeping statements about the financial sector in general and the banks in particular; especially when the value of mutual funds falls or we feel that the banks want us to carry out all of our own banking services over the Internet without the aid of knowledgeable bankers in an office. I shall return to the latter issue later, but let me first remind you that the financial system is actually an essential part of the economic infrastructure in every modern society. It is possible to manage without a steel industry or shipyards, but for society to function one must have an infrastructure, a transport sector, an energy sector and also a financial sector. The most obvious task for the financial sector is to ensure that the payment system functions.

But, the rapidly changing situation of the past two years has been extraordinary, and it is worth discussing in some detail. After the onset of the pandemic, Americans shifted their spending from services to goods, spending less on restaurants, vacations, and entertainment, and more on things like cars, appliances, and furniture. As businesses tried to meet the surge in demand for goods, distribution channels backed up. Supply-chain bottlenecks and shortages emerged, both here and abroad. Too many ships arrived at the ports—particularly those in California. When the ships were finally able to dock, there weren’t enough workers and drivers to unload and transport goods to stores—or to people’s homes. In addition, we have seen a large pullback in the number of people willing and able to work, in part reflecting the challenges and risks of working during the pandemic. Some businesses can’t hire people fast enough to help meet the strong demand. This has contributed to an acceleration in wages and higher prices for a variety of goods and services, including food and housing. High inflation is hardest on those already struggling to make ends meet. The Fed’s Response This brings me to the outlook for the economy and monetary policy. As I said earlier, demand for goods and some services is now far outstripping supply, resulting in elevated inflation. With the 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  labor market already very strong, it’s important to restore the balance between supply and demand and bring inflation down.
Growth slackens in USA and euro area Annual percentage change. Broken lines refer to the Riksbank’s forecasts. 4,5  4,5 USA  4,0  4,0  Euro area  3,5  3,5  3,0  3,0  2,5  2,5  2,0  2,0  1,5  1,5  1,0  1,0  0,5  0,5  0,0  0,0 01  02  03  04  05  06  07  08  09  10  Sources: Eurostat, US Department of Commerce and the Riksbank  11. Disruptions to the interbank market Percentage points. Difference between interbank rate and government bond rate with three months duration for each respective country. 2,5  2,5 United States Sweden Euro area United Kingdom  2,0  2,0  1,5  1,5  1,0  1,0  0,5  0,5  0,0  0,0 jan  feb  mar  apr  maj  jun  jul  aug  sep  okt  Source: The Riksbank  BIS Review 132/2007  13  12. Inflation rises first then falls back towards the target Per cent. Broken lines refer to the Riksbank’s forecasts. 4  4 CPI CPIX  3  3  2  2  1  1  0  0  -1  -1 00  01  02  03  04  05  06  07  08  09  10  Sources: Statistics Sweden and the Riksbank  13.

Edward Scicluna: Pursuing price and financial stability Address by Prof Edward Scicluna, Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, at the annual dinner of the Institute of Financial Services, Saint Julian's, 2 December 2022. *** President and Members of the Committee of the Institute of Financial Services (IFS) Malta, distinguished guests, good evening. Last year's annual dinner took place at a time economies were gradually re-opening and forecasts for economic growth were being upgraded. Policy rates in the main advanced economies were still negative or mildly positive. Fiscal stimulus was gradually being withdrawn. The spike in inflation was also expected to go back to moderate levels in the course of 2022. And then came war. Apart from the human loss it has caused, the war in Ukraine has amplified shortages of certain commodities and unleashed an unprecedented energy shock which has disproportionately affected Europe. Lately, supply bottlenecks have started to dissipate, as reflected in globalsurveys ofsupplier delivery times and mainstream freight rates. Yet, inflation has remained elevated. In the euro area, inflation increased from just above 5% in January this year, to 10.6% in October, moving into two-digit territory for the first time in decades. Meanwhile, HICP excluding food and energy, has broadly doubled, standing at 5.0% in October, in part reflecting indirect effects from higher energy costs but also the lagged effects of rising non-energy costs.
Yet another conceptual issue to be put across clearly is the fact that an inevitable cost of fixing the exchange rate through currency board arrangements is interest rate volatility. An external shock involving any substantial flows of funds into or out of the currency will lead to interest rate changes. The larger the flow the sharper the changes, in a manner very much dictated by the market. And as there is little or no discretion on the part of the HKMA on interest rates, the HKMA was in fact not responsible, for example, for overnight interbank interest rates hitting 280% last October. We did not squeeze interest rates. It was those shorting the Hong Kong dollar who squeezed interest rates and, on that occasion, squeezed themselves as BIS Review 87/1998  -5-  well, along with the innocent borrowers. Interest rate volatility can be dampened by discretionary action, but that would undermine the credibility of the system. Alternatively this could be done by further modifying our currency board arrangements and incurring the cost in the form of greater fluctuation in our foreign reserves while eschewing the exercise of discretion. This was the objective of the seven technical measures we took in early September to make our system less susceptible to manipulation. 20. I do not wish to continue to bore you with these conceptual issues. Although they are technical, they are essential if there is to be sensible and meaningful discussion about monetary management in Hong Kong.

And the New York Fed's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index has declined to a level that indicates supply chain pressures are now actually somewhat lower than normal.6 At the same time, the March price data indicate some moderation in overall rent inflation. And rents for new leases have been showing slower rates of increases, which should bring down shelter inflation in coming months. This is important because shelter inflation had been a significant driver of higher inflation over the past year. But the most persistent area of inflation is in core services excluding housing, which has been running around 4-1/2 percent since last August . This is driven by a continued imbalance in overall supply and demand, and it will take the longest to bring down. Bringing Back the Balance In "The Rise of Skywalker," Anakin urged Rey to "bring back the balance." The FOMC has been taking strong actions to do just that. Last week, the FOMC raised the target range for the federal funds rate to 5 to 5-1/4 percent, its tenth consecutive rate increase. In its post-meeting statement, the FOMC indicated that "in determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2 percent over time, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.
6  Cheptea, C. and Velculescu, D., “A Disaggregated Approach to Prioritizing Structural Reforms for Growth and Employment”, in Schindler, M., Berger, H., Bakker, B. and Spilimbergo, A. (eds. ), Jobs and Growth: Supporting the European Recovery, IMF, 2014. 7  See Cœuré, B., “Ein Binnenmarkt für Kapital”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 June 2014. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The convergence in national structures could be complemented by joint action at the European level in two respects. Complementing regulatory initiatives, there could be a joint European effort to increase investment levels by better channelling private savings to investment and by coordinating available public investment programmes. Beyond this, one could envisage joint European investment in public goods such as network industries and R&D, as a way to bolster Europe’s growth potential and to even out drops in public investment in economies hit by shocks. Yet, this should be achieved by prioritising spending and should not undermine efforts that remain necessary to bring down debt levels. In the longer term, the convergence process could culminate in the transfer of certain budgetary responsibilities to the European level with a view to strengthening risk-sharing within the currency union. But let me add an important note of caution. This can only occur once trust has been restored across countries and within countries, i.e. after growth has resumed, unemployment and inequalities have receded, and economies have sufficiently converged. What we are talking about is a new social contract among European countries.

As an anniversary usually brings up both a tally of what was done in the past, and wishes for the future, I will try to have some measure of both in my congratulatory address to you. Practicing our profession involves our capability to serve society and help the Bulgarian economy. Because, as we are all very well aware, banks have high responsibilities in a market economy – the ongoing technological innovation, developing and offering new products and services, as well as the predictability and stability of banks are a mandatory prerequisite for economic prosperity. From my first day as a BNB Governor to this very day, I have never stopped reiterating and instilling the idea that this responsibility requires the individual efforts of each one of us to be governed by a long-term goal – let’s call it a sense of mission – which goes beyond the specific financial or market considerations of the current day. It is exactly a jubilee like today’s that reminds us of the historic horizons behind the daily statistics, balance sheets or income statements, which ultimately mark the road of new and democratic Bulgaria. Speaking of history, exactly the current crisis stirs the need to examine the past. It is often said about this crisis that it has been the biggest one globally in the recent decades.
Chart 4: Financial openness External liabilities as % of GDP 300 250 200 150  Advanced economies  100 50  Emerging market economies 1980  1985  1990  1995  2000  2005  0 2010  2015  Sources: IMF International Financial Statistics and Lane Milessi-Ferretti (2007) External Wealth of Nations dataset. 2  For a recent summary of all the literature on the factors affecting capital flows to EMEs see Keopke (2019), What drives capital flows to emerging markets? A survey of the empirical literature, Journal of Economic Surveys. 3 Ghosh et al (2016), When do capital inflows surges end in tears?, American Economic Review. Surges are defined as a net capital flow observation that lie in the top thirtieth percentile of both the country-specific and the full sample’s distribution of net capital flows, expressed in percent of GDP. 3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  3  Given the uncertainty over the sustainability of capital inflows, EMEs have defensively accumulated reserves and limited the opening of their capital accounts, including by resorting to overt capital flow management in some cases. Overall, EMEs have increased their financial openness by considerably less than advanced economies (AEs) since 1980, leaving their external balance sheets only around a third the size of those in AEs, despite much faster growth in external trade (Chart 4). These responses, while understandable, carry significant opportunity costs. Excess precautionary savings in EMEs are pushing down equilibrium interest rates, increasing the risks of a global liquidity trap.

Joseph Yam: The Asian crisis - lessons for the future Opening remarks by Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the HKMA Fifth Distinguished Lecture: “The Asian Crisis: Lessons for the Future”, Hong Kong, 21 May 2002. *  *  *  I am delighted to welcome all of you to this fifth HKMA Distinguished Lecture, and to introduce our speaker, Dr Stanley Fischer, and our discussant, Dr Stephen Grenville. The title of Stanley Fischer’s lecture is “The Asian Crisis: Lessons for the Future.” In a few weeks’ time we shall be marking the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis - a day or so, incidentally, after we celebrate an entirely unconnected event, the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR. Asia and the world have gone through many other ordeals since 1997, so that the crisis perhaps seems much further in the past than it really is. But its effects both physical and psychological - are still with us. It is important that we continue to study the causes and effects and to see what lessons there are for the present. I have spoken at length on many previous occasions on the Asian financial crisis, and I intend today to sit back and listen. Let me, however, make three very brief observations.