Are central bank balance sheets in Asia too large?

This volume is a collection of the speeches, background papers and presentations from a conference on "Central bank balance sheets in Asia and the Pacific: the policy challenges ahead". The event was co-hosted by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and was held on 12-13 December 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Senior officials from central banks, as well as academic scholars and economists from the BIS attended the conference. The formal addresses included those from Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, and Jaime Caruana, General Manager of the BIS. The conference marked the culmination of a two-year research programme at the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific focused on central bank balance sheets, addressing the domestic and international implications of the large expansion of central bank balance sheets worldwide, with particular emphasis on Asia. This two-year research programme is a flagship activity of the BIS Representative Office; the activities in the office are guided by the Asian Consultative Council, comprising the Governors of the 12 BIS shareholding central banks in the region.¹

¹ Those of Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.