Published on Sunday, February 10 / February 2013
BAGHDAD / obelisk: denied the Iraqi Central Bank, Sunday, and the existence of any threat to the funds, bonds and Iraqi funds in the U.S. Fed.
A statement issued by the bank and got “obelisk”, a copy of it, that “the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is still working to determine the size of the breach that hit the internal computer systems by hackers cyber”. (more…)
Central Bank: Iraq identical with balances records Feds
Central Bank announced that Iraq balances conform to the financial records after his US Federal Reserve Bank for breach of own internal computer systems by hackers. (more…)
Expressed major emerging economies in the world last night in Washington for their willingness to participate in the provision of assistance through international lending institutions to address the “current challenges” of the global economy that are likely to include the heavily indebted governments in the euro area.
Met with finance ministers and central bank governors of countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa called the “Coalition of the Brix” in Washington on the eve of the annual meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They said in a joint statement that “the BRICs is prepared, if necessary, consider providing assistance through the IMF and international financial institutions to address the current challenges of global financial stability, according to the circumstances of each individual State.”
Since last year, he participated Monetary Fund, who is lending a time of crisis in the rescue packages for the governments burdened with very indebted in the euro area in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. At a news conference, it was not the representatives gathered Prix ready to comment on actions in support of other possible such as buying bonds issued by governments stalled.
IMF WORLD ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL SURVEYS
Global Financial Stability Report
Grappling with Crisis Legacies
September 2011
©2011 International Monetary Fund
Summary
Operationalizing macroprudential policies requires progress on a number of fronts: developing
ways to monitor a risk buildup, choosing indicators to detect when risks are about to materialize, and designing and using macroprudential policy tools. Establishing these robust frameworks will be a lengthy process. Using a structural model and empirical evidence, the following analysis takes a solid step forward on each of the interrelated tasks.
Alsumaria News / Baghdad
Announced the Board of Supreme Audit, Wednesday, Iraq’s debt to the world of more than $ 68 billion, calling on the government to find a quick solution to the problem of indebtedness before the completion of immunity and protection to the Development Fund of Iraq, confirmed that this problem is not only financial but political.
The head of the Office of Financial Supervision Abdel Basset Turki said in an interview for “Alsumaria News”, “debt owed by Iraq to the world at the present time of more than $ 68 billion,” noting that “between 18 to 19 billion dollars of this debt back to the countries of the world, while the rest of the nearly $ 50 billion commercial debt for companies and traders. “
(Reuters) – The new head of the IMF on Saturday urged global policymakers to pursue urgent coordinated action, including the mandatory recapitalization of European banks, or risk descent into renewed world recession.
“Developments this summer have indicated we are in a dangerous new phase,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday at an annual gathering of policymakers from around the world hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
Read More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/27/us-global-economy-idUSTRE77Q1XT20110827
(Reuters) – Growth-linked currencies such as the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars could see fresh selling if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke disappoints investors banking on more monetary stimulus to support the slowing U.S. economy.
If the Fed chief does not unveil stimulus measures in his annual Jackson Hole speech on Friday, bets on risky assets, including these growth- or commodity-linked currencies, would unwind, pulling them even further from their historic highs.
Today, Monday, August 15, 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the US default on the dollar’s convertibility into gold. It was the world’s de facto reserve currency and thus began an experiment with a reserve fiat currency that was doomed to failure before it began, because there has never been a successful fiat currency in all of history.
August 15, 1971 was just like any other day for most people, and President Nixon’s unprecedented decision to cut the US dollar’s gold international convertibility was largely ignored by the public. The majority of citizens didn’t understand the implications for their financial future. Contrast that to today, where a historic downgrade of US debt and a very public $2-trillion increase of the debt ceiling dominated headlines and the television news.
Emergency maneuvers
With developed economies in dire straits, central bankers have taken the tiller. Not all of them are happy about that
COMETH the hour, cometh the central bankers. On August 8th the European Central Bank (ECB) began buying Italian and Spanish bonds in an effort to stop the sovereign-debt crisis from crippling two of the continent’s largest economies. And a day later America’s Federal Reserve made an unprecedented commitment to keeping interest rates at more or less zero for two more years to keep a stalling economy out of recession.
In both cases the dramatic steps were taken in the face of political failures to get to the heart of the problems at hand. The fact that they took both banks well outside their normal zones of operation was underscored by the internal dissent both moves faced, dissent rarely seen in the consensus-driven world of central banking.
Read More: http://www.economist.com/node/21525912
Central bankers are racing to shield their economies from fiscal tightening and lopsided currency swings that threaten a new global recession.
In the 72 hours after a Group of Seven conference call on Aug. 7, theFederal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero through at least mid-2013, the European Central Bank intervened in bond markets and the Bank of England indicated it’s ready to add more stimulus if needed. Japan signaled renewed concern about the yen and Switzerland yesterday stepped up its fight to curb an “overvalued” franc.
BAGHDAD | Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:46pm EDT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq will open accounts at three European central banks to protect oil revenue from claims by commercial creditors when immunity at the U.S. Federal Reserve runs out, a senior central bank official said on Monday.
Iraq holds the bulk of proceeds from its oil export sales in the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI) account at the New York Fed but will lose legal immunity on that account next May.
It plans to move at least part of that money to central banks in Britain, France and the Netherlands where the money would be protected.
The Federal Reserve may keep interest rates at record lows for the longest period since World War II as the economic slowdown that sparked a four-month bond rally worsens, according to Treasury market signals.
The 3-percentage-point gap between yields for three-month and 10-year Treasuries indicates the economy may grow 1.1 percent in the 12 months ending June 2012, a study by the Fed Bank of Cleveland says. That’s less than half the central bank’s current forecast, and may delay any rate increase from the zero- to-25 basis point range held since December 2008.
Read More: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-11/fed-on-hold-longest-since-1940s.html
By Garth Theunissen and Allison Bennett – Jul 11, 2011
The best currency forecasters say the dollar’s 13 percent slide over the past year is coming to an end as Europe’s deepening debt crisis discourages bets against the world’s reserve currency.
Led by Schneider Foreign Exchange Ltd., the five most- accurate firms during the six quarters through June 30 as measured by Bloomberg see the dollar trading at $1.42 per euro on average by year-end, compared with $1.43 on July 8. Against the yen, they predict the greenback will rise to 83 from 80.64.
Economics 7/1/2011 9:13:00 AM
UNITED NATIONS, July 1 (KUNA) — As the UN supervision of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) ended Thursday at midnight, the UN Security Council (UNSC) welcomed Iraq’s establishment of a successor arrangement for the transition, and its assumption of full autonomy over the Fund’s proceeds as of July 1st.
In a statement to the press hours before the expiration period, the Council President, Gabon, late Thursday said the Council members “welcomed the Government of Iraq’s establishment of a successor arrangement for the transition of the Development Fund for Iraq, consistent with resolution 1956″ adopted last year.
The euro pared losses against the dollar after European officials endorsed austerity measures proposed by Greece’s finance minister, increasing optimism the nation’s debt crisis will be resolved.
The shared currency earlier dropped the most in more than a week against the greenback after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the debt crisis threatens to infect banks. The dollar rose against most of its 16 major counterparts after the Federal Reserve signaled yesterday it won’t add to stimulus measures that could erode the value of the currency.
The dollar is poised to reverse its almost decade-long bear market trend as global growth slows, Europe’s debt problems worsen and theFederal Reserve ends its asset-buying program, according to Citigroup Inc.
The dollar may stop weakening, as it has since the 2000- 2002 period, and enter a bull market for the first time since 1995, Tom Fitzpatrick, chief technical analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York, said in a note to clients.
27/04/2011
Iraq agreed to open two accounts in the United States for the management of oil revenues, especially, after the closure of the Development Fund for Iraq on June 30 where it shall be deposited all revenues, which had been opened after 2003.
The Iraqi government will be deposited in one of these accounts for 95 percent of Iraq’s revenues, while the second will be deposited in the account 5 percent of revenues in order to pay the compensation awarded to Kuwait for the 1991 war, according to UN Security Council resolutions.
By Mark Felsenthal, Reuters
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s historic decision to hold news briefings may help inoculate the U.S. central bank from political meddling, while offering financial markets more clarity on monetary policy.
Bernanke holds the first regularly scheduled briefing by a Fed chief in the central bank’s 97-year history next Wednesday, kicking off what is to be a four-times-a-year event.
The news conferences will allow Bernanke to demystify the notoriously secretive Fed, which has faced sharp criticism for its unconventional crisis-fighting efforts.
Decided that the Group of Seven industrialized nations yesterday to intervene in a common format in the currency market to halt the sharp rise of the Japanese yen hamper Japan’s efforts to recover from the devastation wrought by an earthquake last week and the repercussions of a nuclear crisis, which has called on the Japanese central bank injected three trillion yen (39 billion dollars) in additional money markets.
The goal of the Japanese central to secure liquidity to the banks of Japan after the devastating earthquake and disruption of financial markets, note that the reason for the high yen against the dollar and record the day before yesterday set a record at 76.25 yen against the dollar, attributed to speculation on the Japanese currency and purchase compelling for the currency since the earthquake, in addition to by Japanese investors sold overseas assets to transfer money to their country.
But the intervention of Japan and central banks in the countries of the group yesterday by buying the dollar against the yen, raising the price of the dollar against the yen to the average of the previous earthquake last Friday at 81-82 yen. Attached to the high yen great damage to the Japanese companies that depend most heavily on export and already faces a slowdown in economic activity after a natural disaster.
VietFinanceNews.com – Accelerating inflation in Asian economies from Singapore to Vietnam is bolstering the case for further monetary tightening by central banks around the region.
Singapore’s inflation rate rose to a two-year high of 5.5 percent in January, while prices in Malaysia climbed at the fastest pace since mid-2009, reports today showed. Vietnam’s consumer prices gained the most in 24 months in February.
Asian currencies rose from a one-week low today on speculation central banks will raise interest rates as surging oil prices threaten to fuel inflation. China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam all increased borrowing costs this year, widening the gap with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s near-zero benchmark rate, as Asia leads a global recovery.
London: Silver hit multi-year peaks on Monday, driven by pent-up demand on the first trading day of 2011, while gold rose above $1,420 (Dh5,211) an ounce in Europe yesterday, within 1 per cent of its record high.
While a firm dollar limited gains, expectations for more bad news on Eurozone debt, concerns over potential inflation in developing economies and an increased focus on the US deficit are set to maintain surging demand for precious metals, analysts said.
KUWAIT, Jan 3 (KUNA) — The National Bank of Kuwait released a report on Monday drawing a generally upbeat forecast picture of the world economy in the new year.
The report said, “Markets are entering 2011 with optimism at a notch higher for the world economy. This improved sentiment, built in 4Q10, is the result of more positive data from the major economies; a tax cut package and QE2 in the US, and the financial rescue of Ireland by the EU and the IMF. Certainly, earlier concerns of a double-dip recession were further alleviated by these developments. World economies and balance sheets recovered further in 2010 though are by no means totally healed. The market consensus view now is for emerging markets to outperform and grow near 6% while advanced economies grow 2%, for a global world growth of 4% (real GDP basis). Better than last year, and subject to perhaps moderate upward revisions, again in light of the positive developments above.
The stronger data reassures that current growth is sustainable. The recent Irish bailout reaffirms the EU’s commitment to save the euro and to avoid sovereign defaults (or restructuring, to use the more polite term). The extension of the Bush tax cuts in the wake of QE2 reaffirms the US authorities’ commitment to avoid, at all costs, a double-dip and/or deflation.
“The determination of governments in the major economies to act as they did is certainly a major “plus” for financial markets. There are significant caveats however.
The euro zone’s sovereign debt problems (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, etc.) are still with us and awaiting more permanent solutions.
The US tax deal extends lower tax rates for 2 years, reduces the payroll tax for salaried workers, and extends unemployment benefits. Thus, 2011 will see added fiscal stimulus (over USD 200 billion) instead of fiscal contraction. However, all that comes at a cost: even higher deficits and public debt ahead and no credible plan to reduce future deficits.
Moody’s recently said it may re-examine the rating of US debt in light of the new tax package.
In the US, retail sales, confidence, manufacturing, exports all posted encouraging numbers in 2H10, while housing and employment lagged behind. In November, the US economy added only 39K new jobs and unemployment rose to 9.
8%. Real GDP growth was revised to 2.6% in 3Q10 and appears headed for growth of over 3.0% in 4Q.
The market expectation should be near 3.0% for 2011 GDP growth with the new tax cut deal. However, the latter could push the 2011 fiscal deficit back up toward 10% of GDP. Inflation remains contained and the Fed should be satisfied that 10-year inflationary expectations are now at 2.3% up from 1.5% (and sinking) back in August. Falling inflation was the primary reason the Fed announced, and embarked on, QE2.
“QE2 entails buying USD 600 billion of additional Treasury debt into 2Q11 by the Fed, or an average of USD 75 billion per month. One purpose of QE2 was to keep long term rates low. Ironically the announcement briefly took the 10-year rates to new lows, near 2.3%, but 10-year interest rates have since jumped to 3.5% and higher on stronger data and forecasts, and on the credibility-busting tax deal.
In Europe, the core (France, Germany) continues to outperform the periphery, most of which is dogged by debt woes.
Recent fiscal austerity cuts Europe-wide are expected to slow down the region’s economy. Contagion fears remain for Portugal, and the much larger Spain and Italy, where spreads have come under pressure, the Ireland rescue plan notwithstanding.
“Observers seem to be positive on the world economy in 2011, with an eye on the risks above. The large emerging economies are growing but are expected to slow somewhat from their 2010 pace, in part because of tighter money linked to higher inflation (China, India).
The slowdown is however from high rates of GDP growth (over 9% in 2010 to around 8% in the cases of India and China).
“Oil and other commodities have been firm and have, among others, shored up the prospects for the GCC economies, where stock markets have outperformed in 2010. With the exception of Qatar, with double digit real GDP growth, the remaining GCC countries, including Kuwait, are expect to grow at 4-5% in 2011. Growth should be helped by the world recovery, but also by ambitious large government projects in most GCC countries.
"People cannot go to a bank and deposit a lot of cash. If there was security, then the banks would see more flows and they would be able to lend more easily to all sectors of the economy" Sinan Al-Shabibi, CBI
Currency Newshound Commentary: This is an interesting 2007 EuroMoney article submitted by a Facebook follower.- Thanks Guenevere
Sinan Al-Shabibi, governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, speaks to Sudip Roy about the bank’s efforts to control inflation, curb exchange rate instability and cope with the difficult security situation.
Even though economic growth is at about 6.3%, Iraq needs a much higher rate. How can you kick-start the economy given the level of violence?
It is of course difficult. There is a lot of instability and insecurity. But I would say that the government is trying its best to attain and maintain a good rate of growth.
