Bandid Nijathaworn: Where is global finance heading? Speech by Dr Bandid Nijathaworn, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Conference entitled, “Where is Global Finance Heading? The Stake of Emerging Economies in the International Financial System”, organised by Central Bank of Peru and Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, Cusco, Peru, July 13-14, 2009. *  *  *  Thank you Chair First, let me thank the Central Bank of Peru and Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee for the invitation. It is an honour to be speaking to you today. The topic of this first session is “Time of upheaval: Where global finance is heading?”. This is definitely an important question given the current crisis is now almost two years old and is still evolving. Judging from the implications that the crisis has had so far on the world economy and financial markets, this is truly the first crisis of globalization. The crisis shows that financial upheaval can happen in any country, regardless of whether it is large or small, emerging or developed, and once happens, it can impart huge externalities on the rest of the world given the globalized nature of the world’s trade and payment systems. But more importantly, the crisis points to the weakness in the configuration of policies and financial regulation in the period leading up to the crisis that led to excessive risk-taking in the intermediation of global savings and investment across economies.
Risks related to the corporate debt burden are under control. The Bank of Russia is monitoring financial stability, promptly and regularly adjusts its macroeconomic forecasts and its policy. The central bank is prepared to use all available instruments to stabilise the situation in case of need. However, in order to maintain macroeconomic stability we need not only a balanced policy pursued by the central bank, but also the appropriate fiscal policy, including the government debt management policy. The national debt in national currency is a basic financial instrument for any country of the world. It plays a leading part in the financial markets, is actively used by central banks in their monetary policies, as well as in banking and financial regulation. This is the role of a risk-free liquid asset, as we conditionally call it. The rates on other riskier assets are usually calculated with due account of the risk premium to government debt. As distinct from short-term interest rates regulated by central banks, long-term rates in the economy depend on inflation expectations and expectations with regard to government finance sustainability. The ‘risk-free’ is a key word describing the relationship between the financial system and the government debt. The latter may perform all these functions only if the state budget is balanced in the medium and long terms and the government may honour its obligations without resorting to defaults and the printing press. Budget discipline impacts the central bank’s ability to function as an economic and financial stabiliser amid economic shocks.