In this speech, the Governor first identifies the polar positions often taken on the issue of central bank independence: at one extreme a set of elite individuals beyond political influence and with extensive but generally defined powers; at the other the central bank as simply another arm of...

In his annual speech at the Mansion House, the Governor reports on an improving international environment. Risks to the outlook remain from the imbalances within and between the industrial countries, which persisted over the past year, but the global economy may now at least be moving in the...