The glossary

Central bank

A central bank is a bank of a country or group of countries whose main mission is to implement the monetary policy of a country and provide financial services to its government and its banking system. A central bank has numerous responsabilities, such as controlling money supply and the amount of money in circulation, setting the interest rates, holding the country reserves and ensuring the stability of the banking system.

Anecdote

Central banks have been established in practically all countries but there are a few countries that do not have one: Andorra, Isle of Man, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu.