Bancos centrales

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy will pick up in the second quarter. He added that a slowdown in the economy in the first quarter was temporary.

Lockhart noted that the June to September period remained a "reasonable time frame" to hike interest rates.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president believes that more people are not recorded in official unemployment figures.

Lockhart is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) Governing Council Member and the governor of Slovakia's central bank Jozef Makuch said on Tuesday that quantitative easing by the ECB is working. He pointed out that there will be enough quality bonds for asset purchases by the ECB.

Makuch noted that quantitative easing do not replace reforms.

The Fed Richmond President, Jeffrey Lacker, said on Tuesday that June will be "the appropriate time" to hike interest rate in the U.S. as labour market and other conditions continued to improve.

He noted that headline inflation is likely to recover toward 2% this year.

The Fed Richmond president also said that he has not decided if he will dissent in case the FOMC officials should vote not to hike interest rates in a June policy meeting.

Lacker is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year.

The Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Monday that non-bank companies and activities can also lead to financial instability. He noted that regulators must closely monitor the shadow banking sector.

Fischer offered some ideas how to regulate non-bank lenders. "To promote solvency, one could impose ratio-type capital requirements, such as leverage-ratio requirements or risk-based requirements," the Fed vice chairman said.

The Federal Reserve Chairwomen Janet Yellen said on Friday that the Fed is considering to raise its interest rate "later this year" even though this may slow the U.S. economy. The interest rate hike will be depend on the economic data, she noted.

Yellen pointed out the Fed will choose "gradualist approach" to raise its interest rate.

The Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said in Frankfurt on Friday that debt in the Eurozone has reached the "danger zone" as public debt totalled 91% and corporate debt - 105%.

Weidmann noted that a European solution may be required for the regulatory treatment of sovereign debt.

"Sovereign debt needs to be backed by capital, and exposure to a single sovereign must be capped, just as is the case for any private debtor", the Bundesbank president said.

The Fed Vice Chairmann Stanley Fischer said in Frankfurt on Friday that the nonbank financial system is less vulnerable to shocks today.

"Regulators need to respond to existing regulatory gaps and to keep pace with further changes," Fischer noted.

The Fed vice chairman also said that regulators have not enough information about the activities of hedge funds.

The Bank of England (BoE) Chief Economist Andy Haldane said on Friday that central banks around the world might coordinate tools for dealing with specific markets.

"There may be greater scope to coordinate macroprudential tools," Haldane said. He added that macroprudential tools should "operate on an asset-class basis, rather than on a national basis".

Haldane surprised market participants last week when he said a drop in inflation meant the central bank could cut its interest rate further.

The Bank of England (BoE) Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent, said in London on Friday that it is unlikely that the U.K. economy will suffer from a low inflation. "The likelihood of a broad and protracted deflation, afflicting wages as well as prices, is pretty low," Broadbent said.

He noted that inflation declined due to falling oil prices. Negative price growth is temporary and positive for the economy, he added.

Broadbent expects the consumer inflation to increase in early 2016.

The BoE deputy governor also said that wages will grow as unemployment declined.

The Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney said in at a Bundesbank conference Frankfurt on Friday that the central bank's next move will be interest rate hike.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) Governing Board Member Fritz Zurbruegg said on Thursday that the central bank is ready to intervene in the foreign exchange market if needed.

The SNB reported in its annual report that it spent CHF25.8 billion ($26.9 billion) on defending the cap in late 2014.

Zurbruegg noted that the Swiss franc remains overvalued. He said that he does not expect a sustained negative inflation or a deflationary spiral.

The European Central Bank (ECB) President, Mario Draghi, said in Rome on Thursday that there was already evidence that quantitative easing was working.

He pointed out that stimulus measures by the ECB are strengthening the "cyclical recovery", not structural.

Draghi noted that the central bank cannot buy Greek government bonds because "it does not purchase government bonds of countries that are in a programme with the IMF and the European Commission when the review of this programme has not been completed".

The ECB president said that the ECB also does not purchase due to low Greece's credit rating and due to high percentage of purchased bonds.

Draghi expects that the central bank's asset buying program will reach €60 billion by the end of March.

The Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Stephen Poloz defended the central bank's interest rate cut in London on Thursday. He said that interest rate cut was needed to deal with falling oil prices. Oil is Canada's top export.

Poloz noted that falling oil prices weighed on the economic growth and the interest rate cut has given the central bank time to monitor the situation.

The BoC governor pointed out the central bank will continue to follow its monetary policy to achieve its 2% inflation target.