Issue No. 598
Opinion
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8 - 14 August 2002 Issue No. 598 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Waiting for signs?
During a phone conversation that I had recently I was asked by my economist friend just exactly where the Central Bank stood. What, I wondered, could he possibly mean by the question. Pressed for an explanation it turned out that it was not the location he was wondering about, but the Bank's position on a whole range of issues.
While the Central Bank, he pointed out, had paid an incredible amount of attention to the design and printing of new bank notes, when it came to major issues like interest rate levels or capital ratio the Central Bank, if it had any position at all, had a position it was keeping resolutely to itself.
And what of those people who, having been given massive and unsecured loans, simply disappeared with the money? Did the Central Bank have any regulatory suggestions that might stop such things happening again? What is the Bank's position on public- and private-sector loans? And what of mergers? A comprehensive study was commissioned and then, when complete, shelved.
The circumstances provoking the dollar crisis had little, if anything, to do with the Central Bank, it is true, but how is it going to impact on the Bank's own policy? Nor has the Central Bank made any comments about the recent changes on the boards of several banks. One wonders when the Bank is going to indicate its position across a whole range of central economic issues. One wonders, and one waits.
The writer is editor-in-chief of Al- Ahram Al-Iqtisadi
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