It is difficult to compare the size of different central banks given differences in the services they provide and the areas that they regulate. Using data from central bank annual reports and data from this IMF paper, we compare the number of staff at different central banks and the relative size of central bank budgets. Its perhaps not surprising to see that central banks of small island economies have relatively large staff complements compared to their population or relatively high operational expenses compared to the size of their economies. It does raise interesting questions about what different central banks are spending their budgets on. The size of the Russian central bank’s budget is much larger than the other banks considered. The South African Reserve Bank’s (Bank only) budget is large relative to advanced economy central banks, but it does not stand out in terms of its total number of employees.
Footnote
Apart from adding several central banks, including those in Russia and Australia, we have used data from the annual report of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) instead of those provided by the paper. For South Africa, the paper’s total operating expenses are lower in rand terms than those from the annual reports of the SARB (both for the bank and the broader SARB group that includes the Mint and Bank Note Company). In this post, we present more detailed estimates from the paper for a selection of central banks. The paper paints a different picture to the one we presented in an earlier post, where we showed that the SARB does not stand out for the number of staff, but it does stand out for the size of its budget.
