Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer approved the government's nominee, Durmus Yilmaz, as the new central bank governor. The markets welcomed the appointment of Yilmaz as the new central bank chief. Yilmaz, who joined the Central Bank in 1980, has been a member of the bank's monetary policy board as well as its executive board. An interim governor has headed the central bank since the Surreyya Serdengecti, retired on March 13 2006. The President vetoed the government's first candidate for the post, Adnan Buyukdeniz, since he had worked only in an interest-free Islamic bank, operating according to Islamic rules.
China has allowed its local banks to manage assets for domestic institutions and individuals outside China. The move, authorised by the People's Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, is aimed at achieving a balance in the country's international payments. Last week, the government eased capital controls to make it easier for individuals and companies to buy foreign currencies and invest abroad. The easing of capital controls is expected to reduce the pressure on the Yuan to increase on the back of a record trade surplus and investment inflows.
The Reserve Bank of India increased its interest rate ceiling on non-resident rupee deposits. In its annual policy statement for 2006/07, the Reserve Bank increased the interest rate ceiling on non-resident deposits in rupees for one to three years' maturity by 0.25% to 1% above Libor rates for US Treasury bonds of the same maturity. After the recent increase in the foreign currency non-resident deposit interest ceiling by 0.25%, the increase in the interest ceiling on rupee deposits is aimed at attracting more deposits from non-resident Indians.
Following a maintenance stoppage at crude oil upgrading facility Cerro Negro, Venezuelan oil output fell by 40,000 barrels a day in March compared to February, said the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
The government and the opposition in Brazil's Congress have reached an agreement on one sticking point in the 2006 budget negotiations. According to the man who is steering the budget through Congesss, deputy Carlito Merss, agreement has been reached on the Kandir Law, which compensates states for tax exemptions given to exporters. After intense negotiations involving states, the executive branch and the legislature, it was decided states will receive an additional 5,2 billion reais which will come out of the federal government's budget.
According to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Russia has the lowest tax burden in emerging Europe. There are, however, some macroeconomic factors that slow economic growth, such as administrative barriers and hidden payments. The key unfavourable factor is the strength of the rouble, which Kudrin described as an "invisible tax" that damages the competitiveness of Russian goods on the foreign markets. He also said that high inflation is a problem for Russian companies.