Therefore, I shall keep my comments on how we as central bankers see the current financial setting as brief as possible. For the most part, global equity markets have been developing positively lately, despite emerging geopolitical tensions. The US S&P 500 index, for example, is chalking up one all-time high after another.
As a result of the clear trend that emerged in recent years of increased amount of central banks’ sales as well as lending, the official sector’s holdings as a percentage of total above-ground stocks fell from about 30 per cent in 1996 to 23 per cent in 2000.