Largest Central Bank Balance Sheets Combined

The first chart shows the size of the four central banks with the biggest balance sheets. In decreasing order: PBoC (Chinese Central Bank), ECB (European Central Bank), Fed (Federal Reserve, USA) and the BoJ (Bank of Japan). 

So the Chinese Central Bank has the largest balance sheet of the central banks in the world!

The next four central banks of the top eight with the largest balance sheets in the world are the Bundesbank (Germany), Banque de France, BoE (Bank of England) and the SNB (Swiss National Bank).

In this last graph you can see the balance sheets of the eight central banks combined. Especially after the fall of Lehman balance sheets increased dramatically. This was also the case, although more gradually since the end of 2010 during the still ongoing Euro crisis.

The Big Picture

Short Term Interest Rate In the United States (1831-2011)

Here I show the short term interest rate for the United States from 1831-2011. The short time interest rate was determined by supply and demand before 1913 and set by the Federal Reserve since 1913. Especially notice the almost continue decline in the interest rate from 1980 in which the financial markets exploded and housing bubbles were created - (lending) money became more and more cheap for consumers, businesses, governments and banks.

Ritholtz

Central Bank Balance Sheets (ECB, Fed, BoJ, BoE)

In this post I will show how the main Central Bank balance sheets have grown in the last few years.

First a graph with the assets as a percentage of GDP for the Federal Reserve (U.S.), The European Central Bank, The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan. You can see that especially the assets of the UK and the US central banks have exploded during the financial crisis in the second half of 2008. The balance sheet of the ECB didn't grow as fast but is growing fast at the moment.

The increase in the balance sheets reflect more flexible lending standards by the central banks to the public banks. With the credit markets drying up at the moment (as in 2008) banks more and more stop lending to and from each other and start storing its excess money at the central bank as well as lending from it.

The extra loans given out by the central banks show up as an increase in the central banks balance sheets.

This chart shows the balance sheet of the European Central Bank in trillion euro's. Ofcourse the above picture gives a better comparison as the balance sheets are expressed as percentages of the countries GDP.

Interest Rates (global), Inflation (global) and Credit Growth (EuroZone)

World short term interest rates have been lowered drastically by the central banks.



This couldn't stop a dramatic fall in global inflation rates in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 and 2011 inflation rates started growing again, until recently.



Euro Zone Credit Growth. With the financial crisis, followed by the economic crisis (recession) and the sovereign debt crisis resulted in an almost stagnant credit growth in the Euro Zone.

Who Holds the United States National Debt

The Washington Post made this graph with the holders of the United States 14 trillion national debt.

• 5.7 Trillion: The biggest part of the cake is hold by United States government institutions, like the Medical Trust Fund, the Social Security Fund and the Federal Reserve.
• 4.4 Trillion is hold by foreign investors.
• 3.9 Trillion is hold by other investors.

Washington Post

Who Is Watching The Banks in the United States?

This picture gives an overview of the institutions that are in control over the supervision of the banks in the United States, including what part of the banks they are overlooking.

Click on the picture for a bigger version and check the source for a description of all the institutions.

The Fiscal Times

Who Is Funding The U.S. Deficit?

In Q1 of 2011 the Federal Reserve was by fas the biggest buyer of US debt. What will happen when the Federal Reserve stops buying treasuries in July?

Source: Ritholtz

The Federal Reserves Balance Sheet

This is the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet from 2007 till now. Notice the increase in the Treasury and Mortgage-Backed Securities assets since the crisis.

Source: Fed

Salaries of Central Bankers around the world

The one with the most influence, Ben Bernanke, earns a lot less than the others.

Source: RTLZ

Dutch: Fed and ECB in the government bond markets

The graph gives the part of bonds which the central banks bought in the fourth quarter of 2010 in the United States and Europe respecitvely. The blue part shows the Central Banks purchases.

Source: Z24

DUTCH: American (and other countries) Debt Problems

This picture gives the budget deficit for 2011 in selected countries, with the U.S. on top.

Source: Z24

Budget deficit in 2016 for these countries:

Source: Z24

This picture gives a great overview of the situation of the public finances for selected countires

These are the fiscal consolidations needed to before 2030 as computed by the IMF