samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Their compilation shows, as expected, that the value of central banks' holdings has also decreased rapidly and often more in relation to the size of the economy than here in Sweden. However, as I just mentioned, the Riksbank's capacity to bear risk and handle losses is weaker because its seigniorage is so small.44 Some central banks will be able to continue to finance their operations even if they are now making very large losses. Of course, the Riksbank's financial position is not improved by other central banks also making losses. However, it shows that our losses are part of international development. There may also be reason for central banks – especially those governed by the EU Treaty – to create a consensus on how long-term earnings capacity and financial independence are to be managed. 43  See Bank of England (2022a and 2022b). 44 Central banks' losses should therefore be related to their interest-free capital. 23 [30]  Asset purchases and current monetary policy In conclusion, I would like to address two questions where some see a link between our asset holdings and current monetary policy: Is the rapid increase in inflation this year due to the Riksbank's asset purchases having been too large and lasted too long? And should the Riksbank not actively sell assets when monetary policy is now being tightened to bring inflation down? I think the answer is 'No!' to both of these questions.

To sum up, the purchases of government bonds from 2015 up to the pandemic seem to have pushed down the rate on government bonds over the entire yield curve by at least 30 basis points. However, this effect on interest rates is small in relation to the size of the purchases, and there are no clear indications that it led to a fall in the financing costs of households and companies. On the other hand, the purchases seem to have contributed to the strengthening of confidence in the inflation target via a signalling channel and possibly also to the krona remaining relatively weak during the period. Although I believe that decisions and communication on the policy rate were much more important, the asset purchases may have contributed to a certain extent to both inflation and inflation expectations rising from 2015 to 2017 and then remaining close to 2 per cent for a few years (see Figure 7). 10 [30]  Figure 7. Inflation rose toward the target in 2015-2017 and confidence in the inflation target strengthened Per cent  Note. Inflation according to CPIF. Market expectations refer to a 5-year period starting in 5 years’ time, calculated from bond yields, 30-day moving average. Money market participants refers to expected inflation in 5 years according to Prospera's survey. Both market expectations and expectations from Prospera refer to inflation according CPI. Sources: Kantar Prospera, Statistics Sweden and the Riksbank.
But the flow of general provisions moves in the opposite direction, acting as a countercyclical mechanism. In the last boom, the accumulated stock of total provisions grew steadily between 2005 and 2008, to a level which at the start of this year was twice as large as their non-performing loans. That figure has fallen sharply in recent quarters, in the face of fast-growing credit losses, but it did ensure that Spanish banks were better placed than their counterparts in other countries to absorb such losses without immediately eating into their core capital. The Bank of Spain estimates the current level of general provisions could absorb losses associated with a doubtful assets ratio of 9% (the current level is 1.5%). The general reserve is also substantial in comparison with the tier 1 capital ratios, representing 1.3% of the riskweighted assets. I know that general provisions fall foul of modern accounting practice and can be unpopular with tax authorities. But the Spanish example demonstrates that – despite all the technical arguments there might be about the details – a mechanism with broadly the right features is practicable and can generate worthwhile additional reserves against the losses which crystallise in cyclical downturns. It does not require precise estimates of the length of the cycle, or predictions of when the cycle will turn; and it can be capped, so that the reserve does not continue to grow inexorably in an extended upswing.

Chart 5: Sterling three-month interbank rates relative to future expected policy rates  Chart 6: Oil prices  Sources: Bloomberg and Bank Calculations  Sources: Bloomberg and Thomson Datastream  8  BIS Review 145/2008  Chart 7: CPI inflation projection based on market interest rate expectations  BIS Review 145/2008  9
However, limiting upward exchange rate flexibility may attract more capital inflows, on the expectation of future appreciations, turning thereby into a self-defeating strategy. In summary, choosing the right policy mix has become a challenging task for many emerging market economies, all the more so in the absence of a globally coordinated policy response. Faced with these uncertain times, Latin American economies are applying a mix of policies to attain their multiple objectives and minimise risks. The mix includes, to differing degrees of intensity, monetary policy tightening, foreign exchange interventions and reserve accumulation, macro-prudential policies and, in some cases, capital controls. The use of capital controls has traditionally been controversial, because they distort markets while their effectiveness is not backed by empirical evidence. But we must acknowledge that there has been a shift in opinion in their favour – at least as a last-resort instrument – even among institutions such as the IMF. In turn, this shift probably reflects a change in the perceived balance of benefits and costs associated with financial excesses. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that capital controls can also entail negative externalities for the global economy. While fully convinced of the benefits of financial globalisation, a topic to which we devoted our Seminar in 2006, I am concerned by the risks of financial deglobalisation arising in the wake of the crisis.

The greater degree of economic flexibility in the region in responding  BIS Review 11/2006  1  to shocks and the dynamic global conditions is a further feature that contributes towards strengthening the region's potential. While private consumption's contribution to domestic demand is becoming increasingly more significant in the region a renewed expansion in investment is also needed to create a more sustainable growth path. Significant initiatives are already underway to increase the contribution of private investment and secure new areas of growth. These include improving the investment climate and reducing the cost of doing business. Efforts would also continue to be on-going on the priorities in the region as countries have the potential to further expand the role of domestic demand. For several of the countries in the region, a significant boost to investment is expected to stem from an expansion in physical and social infrastructure as well as from research and development activities being relocated to Asia. On the financial front, the region's high savings rate and the pool of capital in the region for productive investments would be able to provide a boost to development of the region's financial markets. Strengthening the structure of the regional markets would facilitate the surplus savings to financing investment within the region. Significant progress has already been made in the Asian region in strengthening the financial sectors, in the banking system or the capital markets. This has increased the region's capacity to intermediate funds, especially within the region.
This means that it is not quite as easy to determine the position of the modified Taylor curve. It is still possible, however, to enter the position of various forecast alternatives on the graph and at least assess whether the forecast is extreme in any respect with regard to the deviation of inflation from the target and the deviation of resource utilisation from the normal level. As yet, it is in practice mainly a question of whether the choice of interest rate path was extreme in either direction in the sense that the central bank gave considerable or very little relative weight to the stability of the real economy. Another interesting aspect to investigate is whether the weight attached to the stability of the real economy actually has been constant over time. If it has not been constant then the central bank's loss function has not been consistent over time, or it is more complicated than the quadratic loss function that I have discussed here and that is regarded as normal and reasonable in the literature on monetary policy. Figures 4 and 6 can be studied more closely in the light of this discussion. In Figure 4 we can see that the main scenario for February 2008 leads to resource utilisation being stabilised rather well, but that the CPI forecast is a little high in relation to the target of 2 per cent.

What considerations need to be made regarding Treasury market clearance practices given the growth in activity by participants who are not central counterparty members? Will the evolving settlement marketplace introduce new challenges to Treasury market participants? How must practices and culture evolve as market structure does? And, how will the interplay of all of these issues affect the future of the Treasury market? Today’s conference provides an excellent opportunity to discuss these issues. Thank you for coming. I look forward to today’s dialogue and the ongoing engagement between the Joint Member Agencies and the public as we all strive to ensure the continued sound functioning of this essential marketplace. 1 Joint Staff Report: The U.S. Treasury Market on October 15, 2014, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Board of  Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, July 13, 2015. 2 Ellen Correia Golay, Frank Keane and Nathaniel Wuerffel assisted in preparing these remarks. 3 The Joint Member Agencies are the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal  Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 4 Best Practices for Treasury, Agency Debt, and Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Markets , Treasury  Markets Practices Group, Revised February 2016. 5 Banking Conduct and Culture, Group of 30, July 2015.
And finally, I will take a brief look at digital central bank money for the general public, a subject currently generating a lot of debate, and will outline why there is no need for it if the system for cashless retail payments is efficient and innovative. The potential of DLT for the FMI So let me begin with the potential that DLT has to offer for the FMI. The FMI is the bedrock of our financial system, facilitating the reliable transfer of securities and money between buyers and sellers. The slide 2 shows a simplified FMI process chain for the settlement of a securities transaction. Transactions are first made via a trading platform, for instance a security is bought on the Swiss Exchange. This purchase is then cleared and settled. Security and money are simultaneously transferred between buyer and seller. In Switzerland, this takes place via the securities settlement system SECOM and the payment system Swiss Interbank Clearing, or SIC for short. It is entirely possible that distributed ledger technology could take hold in various fields. I would like to look here at two possible areas of application: securities settlement and crossborder payments. Page 3/8  One of DLT’s key characteristics is that it makes verified information available to a large number of parties simultaneously. It is therefore particularly appealing in the case of complex processes where coordination is required across a whole range of participants.

This could be achieved by having the private operators of this infrastructure issue a ‘settlement token’ on the DLT system, with the securities then being settled against these tokens. An initiative launched by a consortium with Swiss participation is working on such an approach under the project name ‘Utility Settlement Coin’. This example shows how a market solution could ensure cash-side settlement of securities on the distributed Page 5/8  ledger. This scenario is outlined on the slide 7. Such a privately issued settlement token would be equivalent to commercial bank money, and fully secured by central bank money. However, it would also be possible in principle for central bank money to be tokenised for the settlement of interbank transactions. Central banks in some countries – Singapore among them – are conducting experiments to gain a better understanding of the associated risks. As you can see on the slide 8, this is similar in concept to the previous option. However, there are a number of questions still to be answered in this respect as well. As you can see, there would be various forms that this coexistence could take. What is crucial is that the safety and reliability of the FMI be maintained. The central bank has an important part to play in the reliable foundation, that is to say with regard to payments in the RTGS system. Around this solid foundation, however, it is the market that has the main role.
In fact, the World Bank has always emphasized the importance of knowledge, the necessity of continuous training – a key part of the educated workforce for creating jobs and economic growth. An additional argument are the targeted investments aimed at improving the quality of the educational process in the Republic of Macedonia and taking actions to facilitate the access of Macedonian citizens to the best global expertise. The importance of investment in human  BIS Review 175/2010  1  capital, as economists say, or in the so-called social capital, according to sociologists, is unquestionable. Within that platform, within the slogan – learn continuously to progress continuously, the cooperation between the National Bank and the World Bank has produced a nice event, a good product: logistical support for the process of increasing the knowledge. This logistical support is called: Joint Public Information Center of the NBRM and the World Bank. Today, we are practically announcing its official opening. Its primary function is to promote awareness of the Macedonian public about the work of the World Bank, through the dissemination of information and documentation of the Bank, and to provide access for the Macedonian citizens to extensive collection of contemporary professional literature. In fact, this center is another public information service of the World Bank in Macedonia, along the Depository Library, which operates within the Faculty of Economics, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje.

There was also very broad agreement with the extent of the recalibration, which was based on technical work carried out by the staff of the whole Eurosystem in our committees. The analysis we did before the inception of our asset purchases, and the evidence accumulated since, give us confidence that the additional measures announced yesterday provide material upward pressure on price dynamics to reach our objective as initially intended. Arguably, the only difference between our current situation and a more traditional situation is that our monetary policy stance is not determined primarily on the basis of just one tool – interest rates – but on the basis of an array of tools, which include also the pace of asset purchases, and forward guidance on both interest rates and asset purchases. But similar to the times when we steered policy primarily through interest rates, we are continuously monitoring economic and financing conditions, on which our policy action is always conditional. If these developments change in directions that make it necessary to respond again, we are of course ready at any time to adjust this array of tools to secure the return of inflation to our objective without undue delay. There is no particular limit to how we can deploy any of our tools. And in this context it is important to recall that we operate under a clear framework of monetary dominance – we are ultimately driven by our mandate of maintaining price stability.
Caleb M Fundanga: Bringing banking facilities closer to the people in Zambia Speech by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the official opening of the Stanbic Bank Matero Branch, Matero, Lusaka, 2 February 2005. *  *  *  •  Your Excellency, the South African High Commissioner to Zambia, Mr. Mzwandile Masala  •  Honourable Chance Kabaghe, MP - Matero Constituency  •  Your Worship the Deputy Mayor of Lusaka  •  The Town Clerk, Lusaka City Council  •  Stanbic Africa Regional Director, Mr. Robert Mbugua  •  Representative of Stanbic Africa Retail, Mr. Lincoln Mali  •  Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Zambia, Mr. Larry Kalala  •  Distinguished Invited Guests  •  Ladies and Gentlemen. I feel extremely honoured to have been invited to officiate at this important occasion to mark the official opening of the Stanbic Bank Matero Branch. Sometime last year, Stanbic Bank management informed me that they would be opening two new branches, namely the Arcades Branch and the Matero branch, and asked me to choose which one I would prefer to officiate at. Without much hesitation, I choose to officiate at the opening of the Matero Branch. The reason was very simple. For those of you that are familiar with the development of the city of Lusaka, you will recall that Matero compound is one of the oldest communities in Lusaka.

BIS Review 52/2008  5  Within the next couple of weeks, the banks will report their results for the first quarter of 2008. I have no information on what they will show. I can only say that the strong performance of their core business in the last quarter of 2007 allows one to anticipate a relatively good performance also in the first quarter of this year. In addition, given the composition of their balance sheet, they will all have profited from the depreciation of the Icelandic króna in the first quarter of the year as well as from the increase in the rate of inflation as they hold more price indexed assets on their balance sheet than indexed debt. You are of course familiar with the regulatory and supervisory framework in Iceland. It is based on best international practice and has received high marks from foreign observers. The Supervisory Authority and the Central Bank cooperate closely on their respective roles in the area of financial stability. Developments over the last few months have increased the intensity of the cooperation and monitoring of developments in the institutions’ respective fields of responsibility and experience. This is as it should be and in line what has been done elsewhere. Like many other central banks, the Central Bank of Iceland has somewhat relaxed its rules on eligible collaterals under its regular liquidity facilities. These are broadly based on ECB rules, but ours are probably still somewhat more restrictive than the ECB’s.
In recent years weak growth in import prices and rapid productivity growth have been such factors. On the other hand, it may also be the case, if inflation is high and held up by special factors for a fairly long period of time, that interest rates must be maintained at a high level even when economic activity is not so strong. This means that it is also very difficult in practice to determine what is a "normal” level for the policy rate. It is possible to use different methods to calculate an approximate interval for what can be regarded as a normal repo rate. However, this type of interval will of necessity be fairly broad – in a box in the June Inflation Report it was estimated at 3.5-5 per cent. Experiences also show that the repo rate can fall outside of this rather broad range for fairly long periods of time. Given this, it can be observed that estimates of the normal level for the repo rate have a fairly limited value when assessing interest rate developments in the near future and that interest rate decisions cannot be justified merely because the repo rate is deviating from a level regarded as normal. 1  See Monetary policy in Sweden”, Sveriges Riksbank, 2006 (can be downloaded as a file from the Riksbank's website, www.riksbank.com, or ordered in booklet form). 2  Memorandum “Riksbankens inflationsmål – förtydligande och utvärdering”, 4 February 1999, registration no.

It is sometimes hard to explain where this inflow comes from, but it indicates that in the economy there are sources that generate income, that create savings potential, meaning, the savings, although maybe not sufficient, is still substantial in our country and that deposit growth is just below the one in the good years, but it is positive and continuous, which is encouraging. Does this mean that the banks are more focused on collecting capital, than releasing money in the economy in form of credits? We can state that the deposit growth is higher than the one in the last several years, but the deposit growth is also a reflection of lack of enough alternatives for investments. You know  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  that the stock exchange is in standstill, we don't have some other developed financial markets where the citizens can place their savings, so every savings is mainly placed in form of banks deposit. Despite the inflation slows down, in the last several months, according to the NBRM estimations, it seems that the banks restrain over landing. Is this an indicator for the unfavorable conditions in the economy, or on the market, or is it a try for further reduction of the inflation? No, the inflation is not an issue, since it is on quite moderate level, 2.8 percentages is the latest data for August and we expect average inflation of about 2.8 percentages for the entire year, there is no probability for inflationary pressures in the following period.