As a cornerstone of the modern financial safety net, the Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) is essential in mitigating liquidity crises and containing financial contagion. However, during periods of economic stability, risk-taking incentives in the banking sector may undermine its effectiveness. Using...

This article offers a structural reappraisal of central bank Monetary Policy Transparency (MPT) by explicitly incorporating two dimensions that have long remained peripheral in the literature: Accounting Information Transparency (AIT) and Financial Stability Transparency (FST). Building on a...

In reaction to the 2008 global financial crisis, central banks made large-scale asset acquisitions using their reserves. This unusual monetary strategy has persisted throughout the pandemic, and in certain cases beyond 2022. By then, central bank balance sheets had grown by up to tenfold. Then,...

How can a currency achieve more widespread international use? We study the internationalization of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) through the lens of a unique policy experiment in Argentina. In 2023, amid a severe dollar shortage, Argentina expanded a currency swap line with the People's Bank of...

This paper assesses the causal relationship between central bank interest rate, inflation and GDP growth in Central African countries using a new leading-lagging method over the period 1990-2019. The results show a short-term relationship between the three variables, with strong evidence of...

In its response to the economic and financial crises of 2008, the sovereign debt and euro crisis of 2010-2015, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2023, the European Central Bank (ECB) implemented an unconventional monetary policy aimed at providing liquidity for more than a decade, through a...

Money, capitalist market societies' paramount contract, relies on the belief in its enduring value. However, we still know surprisingly little about the social foundations that sustain that belief. How is our collective trust in the enduring value of money socially built, and what happens if...

Digitalization of the global economy, catalysed by advancements in blockchain technology and the rise of cryptocurrencies, has led to a paradigm shift in the monetary landscape. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have emerged as a transformative force with the potential to revolutionize...

Central banks can play a key role in the change in finance needed for the green transition, but green central bank measures may also have an impact on the general public's trust in the institution. Trust, in turn, is crucial for central banks to successfully conduct monetary policy. The...

This working paper integrates the credit money approach (associated with Post Keynesian endogenous money theory) with the state money approach (associated with Modern Money Theory) by drawing on Wray's 1990 book (Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies: The Endogenous Money Approach, Edward...

The objective of this study is to analyze the debate surrounding the transformation of the Bank of Brazil into a central bank in 1923. The article seeks to answer the question: What was the role of a central bank for Brazilian policymakers at that time? Unlike other Latin American countries that...

To ensure that means of payments are readily interchangeable at face value - i.e. fungible - for retail payments, three elements are required: (1) settlement finality; (2) interoperability; and (3) seamless convertibility of the means of payment into the "ultimate" or quasi-ultimate means of...

This paper empirically examines the effect of the central banks independence on exchange rate volatility by using a large data-set for the E7 (7 emerging countries) covering the period 1998-2017. This paper applies the time-varying panel causality analysis to obtain country-based results. The...

The number of digital currencies has increased significantly in recent years. So-called central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), created by central banks, are at the forefront of this development. Combining the advantages of an electronic means of payment - namely the speed and efficiency of...

Large-Scale Asset Purchases can impact the price of securities directly, when securities are targeted by the central bank, or indirectly through portfolio re-balancing of private investors. We quantify both the direct and the portfolio re-balancing impact, emphasizing the role of investor...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has announced it will refrain from profit distribution in 2022 owing to the accumulation of a huge financial loss. In this paper we examine key determinants of the SNB's loss and shed light on its implications to monetary policy pursuit. In particular, we show that...

The paper finds that the post-pandemic inflation surge and subsequent decline from 2021 to 2024 had no significant impact on public support for the Euro for the EA-19 and for most individual member states of the EA-19. From 2021 to 2024, net public support for the euro remained remarkably stable...

We examine the changing attention that ECB Governing Council members pay to different policy objectives by analysing more than 4,600 speeches given between the establishment of the ECB and the summer of 2024. Alongside the primary objective of price stability, we consider the following potential...

The predictability of monetary policy surprises based on past, public information has been interpreted in two related yet fundamentally different ways. The "Fed information effect" posits that it arises due to markets updating their view of the economy, based on signals implicitly revealed by...

Most empirical research on the effects of transparency on monetary policy committees is based on a natural experiment in 1993 at the Federal Reserve, when it was decided that transcripts of meetings would be released with a five-year lag. Evidence is found of both a conformity effect (reluctance...

Many Central banks around the world are considering the introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as a new means of payment. One of the reasons for introducing a CBDC is a change in payment behavior towards an increasing use of electronic forms of payment. This paper examines the...

We study the spillovers of large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs) in the U.S. on financial intermediation in the euro area using bank-level supervisory data and high-frequency identified policy surprises. Our detailed panel data permit us to trace the impact of LSAPs through bank balance sheets. We...

In August 2024, the IMF's CCAMTAC conducted a scoping mission at the request of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to enhance the forecasting capabilities of the Monetary Analysis Division. The mission evaluated the Division's current resources, tools, and data management practices, identifying...

This Technical Assistance followed a request by the National Bank of Ukraine for a review of their existing Quarterly Projection Model (QPM) and Forecasting and Policy Analysis System (FPAS). Although the NBU had an established FPAS, which benefited from previous IMF TA, the existing model-based...