The second factor driving market volatility stems from the plunge in prices of oil and commodities. Depressed prices put pressures on commodity-exporting countries and related industries. For oil producers, the prolonged low prices would also result in losses in  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  revenue and profitability, and increase risks of default on their debt payments. These could trigger another rout of credit events and liquidity tightening in financial markets. The third factor is the monetary policy divergence between the US and other major advanced economies. While the US Federal Reserve is poised to gradually tighten its policy stance, the Bank of Japan recently joined the club of many European central banks to adopt a negative interest rate policy, and is likely to ease the policy even further. Amid the fragile global recovery, the divergence in the monetary policy stance as well as in the recovery paths among the major economies cause a great deal of global uncertainty, and prompt capital flows to be overly sensitive to news and even slight changes in market expectations. In this highly interconnected world, these global risks surely have widespread spillovers to all countries not least emerging markets, Thailand included. But, the impact on the Thai financial markets, as you might have seen, has so far been relatively limited, compared to other emerging markets, thanks to Thailand’s strong external position which serves as a great buffer against global volatility.
Luis M Linde: Economic recovery in Spain Opening remarks by Mr Luis M Linde, Governor of the Bank of Spain, at the XXII Meeting of the Financial Sector, organised by ABC, Deloitte and Sociedad de Tasación, Madrid, 8 April 2015. *  *  *  Let me first thank Bieito Rubido, the Editor of ABC, Yolanda Gómez, the Deputy Editor, Fernando Ruiz, the Chairman of Deloitte and Juan Fernández-Aceytuno, the General Manager of Sociedad de Tasación, for their invitation to the opening of this Encuentro del Sector Financiero forum. In my address I shall briefly set out the situation of and outlook for the Spanish economy in the European setting; I shall review monetary policy developments in the euro area; and I shall conclude with some thoughts on the connection between political tensions and the functioning of the Monetary Union which, today, as a legacy of the crisis dating back to 2007, are evident and significant. The Spanish economy I shall begin with the situation of the Spanish economy. Recent figures confirm the momentum and strength of our economic recovery, against a background in which the correction of the macroeconomic imbalances and the improvement in the external environment continue. The policies deployed at home and in Europe are underpinning this sound performance.