Papers in this volume were prepared for the Seventh IFC Conference held in Basel on 4-5 September 2014.
The seventh IFC conference on “Indicators to support monetary and financial stability analysis: data sources and statistical methodologies” was hosted by the BIS in Basel on 4–5 September 2014. It was opened by Muhammad Ibrahim, the IFC Chairman, who welcomed the 139 participants representing central banks and statistical agencies from 60 countries. He underlined the importance of the main theme of the Conference given the new environment that has emerged from the 2007-08 financial crisis and which will have lasting implications for central bank statisticians, among others.
In his opening remarks, Hervé Hannoun, the BIS Deputy General Manager, stressed that the increasing involvement of central banks in macroprudential policy will give rise to new data needs, in addition to those required for supporting monetary policy. Data collection, processing and analysis will all need to adapt accordingly. One example, where it is essential to make progress, is measurement issues around inflation and inflation expectations. Low or negative inflation in a number of countries is raising important issues for central banks, reflecting not only their “traditional” monetary policy mandate, but also their new financial stability focus.
The conference was a good forum for reflecting on these issues. The first two sessions covered the new indicators for monetary policy and financial stability in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Recent advances in the development and use of such indicators were presented, with a focus on accuracy, comparability and comprehensiveness. The third and fourth sets of sessions dealt with the use of sample surveys, micro and granular data, new statistical methodologies and techniques to enhance monetary and financial stability analysis at central banks, especially in the presence of data gaps. A special session was devoted to household finance statistics. Two main themes emerged from the closing panel discussion: communication around statistics and the use of micro versus macro data.