World Crisis Online

Russia will gradually scrap anti-crisis measures by 2015, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said at an annual business forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday.

“Russia will exit the crisis in late 2012, and we will phase out [anti-crisis] measures … by 2015,” Kudrin said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. (continue reading…)

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a banking institution granted the exclusive privilege to lend a government its currency. Like a normal commercial bank, a central bank charges interest on the loans made to borrowers, primarily the government of whichever country the bank exists for, and to other commercial banks, typically as a ‘lender of last resort’. However, a central bank is distinguished from a normal commercial bank because it has a monopoly on creating the currency of that nation, which is loaned to the government in the form of legal tender. It is a bank that can lend money to other banks in times of need. Its primary function is to provide the nation’s money supply, but more active duties include controlling subsidized-loan interest rates, and acting as a lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of financial crisis (private banks often being integral to the national financial system). It may also have supervisory powers, to ensure that banks and other financial institutions do not behave recklessly or fraudulently. (continue reading…)