The expansion of central bank balance sheets and the changes in their composition during financial crises have been effective in rectifying market malfunction and stabilising financial markets in Japan and elsewhere. However, the unconventional policy measures are accompanied by costs, as they...

This paper provides a first assessment of the Federal Reserve's recent Maturity Extension Program, dubbed Operation Twist 2. Despite the mere exchange of short-term for long-term Treasury securities, the announcement effect is comparable to the second Large Scale Asset Purchase programme...

This book celebrates the life and work of Palle Schelde Andersen, a Danish economist who was for over two decades the main macroeconomist of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The book contains the papers and proceedings of a conference that was held at the BIS in Mr Andersen's honour...

This paper looks at the relevance of a central bank's own finances for its policy work. Some central banks are exposed to significant financial risks, partly due to the environment in which they operate, and partly due to the nature of policy actions. While financial exposures and losses do not...

Since 1981, monetary policy in Singapore has been centred on managing the trade-weighted nominal effective exchange rate, which has a powerful and predictable influence on domestic prices in a small, open economy. However, given Singapore’s exchange rate-based monetary policy framework and...

As a result of growing financial integration, domestic financial conditions are increasingly influenced by global financial conditions. This phenomenon has intensified after the advanced economies implemented their unconventional monetary policies, which have led to a surge in global liquidity....

The policy response of many African commodity exporting economies to the slump in commodity prices after mid-2014 has been markedly different from that of commodity exporters elsewhere. First, few African countries allowed their currency to depreciate as much as other EMEs, for instance in Latin...

The People's Bank of China and the Bank for International Settlements co-hosted a research conference on "Globalisation and Inflation Dynamics in Asia and the Pacific" on 23-24 September 2013 in Beijing. This was the wrap-up conference for the BIS Asian Office's two-year research programme on...

Setting the interest rate in an inflation targeting regime requires a total assessment, often translated into forecasts, of the outlook for inflation and real activity. In the assessment process, it is useful to have some references or cross-checks, in terms of simple rules. Although simple...