Abstract
This work is a qualitative research that analyses, based on 20 semi-structured interviews, the perception of the National Bank of Romania’s representatives—communication specialists and officials who were highly visible in the mass media after the 2008 financial crisis—upon the loss of public trust in the central bank. At the same time, the interviews reflect the perception of the central bankers upon the effects of making the monetary policy more transparent during the period considered, and examine to what extent the chosen communication decisions can be reversible after surmounting the financial crisis, in an emerging market where no other unconventional monetary policy measures had been used. The research proposes a radiography of the nonmonetary and monetary communication activities after the financial crisis, based on the opinions of NBR representatives; on the way they perceived or implemented, from the inside, the changes regarding the communication strategy; as well as on the assessment of the limitations involved by transparency.
The NBR has never been in a shadow cone. But now it’s under a spotlight, as all central banks are (…). Central banks everywhere have a big problem, and the bar for high jumps is very high, it’s very difficult, and here communicators play an important role.
(Interviewee no. 19)
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Notes
- 1.
In order to maintain anonymity, the interviewees are not associated with their NBR position, as in some cases, the mentioning of the position could lead to identifying the individual respondent.
- 2.
Some of the results described on the basis of research questions 2, 3, and 7 were published in English in 2018 in the journal Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 6(1), 129–144, article Trust and Transparency: Perspectives upon the Communication of the National Bank of Romania during the Financial Crisis—A Qualitative Research.
- 3.
Prior to 2008, the NBR took prudential measures, administrative barriers, and increased minimum required reserves on foreign currency liabilities from 20% in early 2002 to 40% in early 2006 to mitigate capital inflows (details in Chap. 4).
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Iacob, R. (2022). NBR Representatives About the Change of Public Communication After 2008. In: Blind Spots in the Spotlight. Financial and Monetary Policy Studies, vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04067-2_5
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