2022-09-23
At the end of September, representatives of the world’s central banks, international financial institutions, policymakers and academia will come to Vilnius. They will take part in the international conference “Future of Central Banking”, which will be held on 29 September at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.
The conference is dedicated to the Bank of Lithuania, which is celebrating its centenary this year and organising the event together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the world’s oldest international financial organisation dedicated to supporting cooperation among central banks.
“It is important to take an overall and fresh look at the role played by central banks in the light of the challenges we are facing today – the unjustifiable war taking place nearby, climate change, population ageing, growing inequality, the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges posed by digitalisation. It is difficult to predict the long-term consequences of the changes brought about by these challenges. However, we need to work with other central banks to find out how this might affect monetary policy and financial stability, as well as to determine how central bank operations might change.”
“It is for this purpose that we have brought together leading members of the central banking and academic communities and invited them to an international conference in Vilnius dedicated to the centenary of the Bank of Lithuania. I believe that this conference will be a meaningful celebration of our centenary and will be the start of significant changes,” said Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
The President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Gediminas Šimkus and the Deputy Director General of the BIS Luiz Pereira da Silva will give a welcome address at the conference.
“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Bank of Lithuania in bringing together so many high-calibre central bankers and academics to reflect on the future of central banking and monetary policies at this critical juncture in our history,” said Luiz Pereira da Silva, Deputy General Manager of the BIS.
The conference will be divided into two sessions and will conclude with a Policy Panel.
The first session, titled “Policy mix of the future: the role of monetary, fiscal and macroprudential policies”, will focus on the role of central banks in responding to long-term challenges and crises. Speakers will include representatives from the European Central Bank (ECB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Princeton University, as well as Governors of the central banks of Portugal, Latvia and Sweden. The panel discussion will be moderated by Vitas Vasiliauskas, former Chairman of the Board of Bank of Lithuania and Adviser to the Prime Minister.
The topic “Central bank as a pool of real-time data: the “Whys” and the “Hows”” will be addressed in the second session. Speakers will include representatives of the ECB and the IMF, as well as the central banks of Italy, England and Switzerland. In this session, the panel discussion will be chaired by Marius Jurgilas, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
The aim of the Policy Panel, which will conclude the conference, is to discuss the need for central bank independence in the face of fiscal dominance and other risks. Among the panellists are representatives from the BIS, and the central banks of New Zealand, Estonia, Croatia and Poland. The panel will be chaired by the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Gediminas Šimkus.
The international conference will be broadcast online free of charge. The webcast link and the full programme are available on the Bank of Lithuania’s website www.lb.lt.
This year marks 100 years since the establishment of the Bank of Lithuania in 1922. As part of its centenary celebrations, the central bank will be open to the general public with organised tours, various events and exhibitions.
On 28 September, the National Museum of Lithuania will host an international exhibition “100 Years: Litas, Lats, Kroon”, while on 1 October an Open Day will be held at the historic building of the Bank of Lithuania in Kaunas, and on 4 October a conference will be held on the theme of “The Litas: A Century-Long Way”. On 27 September, the Bank of Lithuania will issue €50 gold, €20 silver and €1.5 copper and nickel alloy coins to commemorate its anniversary. For information on all the events dedicated to the centenary of the Bank of Lithuania, please visit: https://www.lb.lt/en/100th-anniversary-of-the-bank-of-lithuania.