The 70th Annual Report of the Bank for International Settlements for the financial year which began on 1 April 1999 and ended on 31 March 2000 was submitted to the Bank's Annual General Meeting held in Basel on 5 June 2000.
Introduction: old problems in a new era?
A decade of tumultuous economic developments ended with a year full of surprises, the majority of them welcome. Inflation stayed very low in most industrial and emerging market countries, while economic growth remained high in the United States, picked up in Europe and began to recover later in the year in Latin America. The turnaround in the fortunes of several crisis-hit East Asian countries was nothing short of remarkable, and China and India continued to expand at high rates. Even in Japan there were signs that the worst might be over. In financial markets, stock prices reached new peaks, generally led by companies in the high-technology sector. Issues of corporate bonds also set new records, with issuance in the newly (and smoothly) created euro developing particularly rapidly. All of these events were judged by most observers to bode well for prospects early in the new millennium, with the absence of any serious computer problems at the moment of transition being taken as another good omen.
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS member central banks.