John Iannis Mourmouras: Central bank independence revisited in the era of unconventional monetary policy

Speech by Professor John Iannis Mourmouras, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece, at the SEACEN - OMFIF Joint Policy Summit entitled "Financial stability in an uncertain global environment", Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 23 November 2016.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to be back to this part of the world. It's certainly warmer over here! I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me to give a speech at this Joint Policy Summit on a topic that I have been revisiting lately, that of central bank independence. My earlier research on the subject goes back 20 plus years.

My speech today revolves one single important question: if and how the concept of an independent central bank has been challenged, or perhaps even undermined, in an era of unconventional monetary policies, including their own exit strategies.