European Central Bank (ECB)

Photograph of Jean Claude Trichet (c) European Central Bank Andreas Böttcher

Not every country s central bank not even every friendly country s central bank has been invited to join the swap lines club. Membership is restricted to the United States Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank of Canada.

The IMF, the World Bank, and other international financial institutions, such as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as the European Central Bank and the European Commission, have worked together to stabilize the situation. The G20 has led the way on the international level.

The European Central Bank would also be prepared to attend a meeting to clarify terms of reference.

Last year, the Shanghai Hong Kong Stock Connect was launched to stimulate cross border investment and capital market development. And China has signed bilateral currency swap agreements with 28 central banks, including the Central Bank of Brazil, the Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England.

From Central Bank to Central Planning?

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank are also heavily involved in the development of links in the Central Asian republics.

Central Bank Confidential

Whose Central Bank?

In order to understand the conflict, it is useful to compare the Fed s independence with that of the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

quot Commercial Dispute Resolution in Central and Eastern Europe Conference sponsored by the International Development Law Institute (IDLI), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) (Trieste, Italy, 28 29 June 1996)

PALO ALTO Once upon a time, European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet communicated effectively with the outside world. Not anymore.

Central Bank Governor directive No.

Source Central Reserve Bank, 1993.

Currently the Republic of China is contributing capital to regional development programmes through institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the Inter American Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Central and Eastern European

At the Lima meeting, the traditionalist counterview came from Benoît Cœuré of the European Central Bank. A central bank, he argued, needs a very simple mandate that allows it to explain its actions clearly and be held accountable for them.

The only reason the country has not long since defaulted on its debts is that the European Central Bank continues to provide funds to the Greek central bank through its emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) scheme. The Greek central bank, in turn, lends money to the country s commercial banks, which lend it to Greek citizens and foreign creditors.

The more French president Nicolas Sarkozy attacks the European Central Bank and the strong euro, the more he is criticized in the European media, by European finance ministers, European Union officials and the ECB itself. The critics are right.

Source Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

And the European Central Bank has consistently shown that it will stand by the euro. Yet experts and partners often underestimate our determination.

In making efforts to harmonize the data at the international level and give technical advice, UNCTAD cooperates with relevant organizations (Eurostat, the European Central Bank, IMF, OECD, WTO and the World Bank).

Far more disconcerting is the willingness of major central banks not just the Fed, but also the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan to inject massive amounts of excess liquidity into asset markets excesses that cannot be absorbed by sluggish real economies. That puts central banks in the destabilizing position of abdicating control over financial markets.

Central Bank (Information and Financial Analysis Unit)

Central Bank (Information and Financial Analysis Unit)

Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO)

Central and Eastern European States 2

Central European conference on competition policy

But the UK government could and undoubtedly would veto any such adaptation of the Bank of England s responsibilities for monetary policy, financial stability, and banking supervision. Any other conceivable model of monetary union including one based on a central bank as unaccountable as the European Central Bank would be subject to the same rejection.

Comptroller, Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Honduras

9. Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE)

Most obviously, the European Central Bank announced an ambitious program of asset purchases quantitative easing in late January. That prospect rapidly drove down the euro s exchange rate, enhancing the international competitiveness of European goods.

The honeymoon for the European Central Bank is over. Because European interest rates no longer are clearly out of whack with the fundamentals of the euro zone economy, monetary policy has become more complex.

Central banks in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand, fearful of losing competitiveness relative to Japan, are easing their own monetary policies or will soon ease more. The European Central Bank and the central banks of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and a few Central European countries are likely to embrace quantitative easing or use other unconventional policies to prevent their currencies from appreciating.

The fourth of the channels, the exchange rate, has already been functioning. The prospect of US monetary tightening coincides with moves by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan toward enhanced monetary stimulus.

Securities prices are extraordinarily high, considering the backdrop of flaccid economic growth. Bond prices have soared on the back of quantitative easing by the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve, and the European Central Bank.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

2. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

But EU institutions have not been entirely inactive. The European Commission asked an eminent persons group, chaired by Erkki Liikanen, the head of the Finnish central bank, to examine this issue on a European scale.

Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network

Communications in Central and Eastern European Countries

The broader and more worrying trend is the politicization of central banking. Leading German political figures are becoming increasingly suspicious of the European Central Bank, while also worrying aloud about the US Federal Reserve s monetary policy.