Government bloat

WHAT DO they all do? France’s central bank employs 15,000 staff — more than seven times the number who work at the Bank of England — despite the absence of a currency to manage or interest rates to set. Furthermore, according to the 2005 Central Bank Directory from Central Banking Publications, despite the fact that the Banque de France lost control of interest rates in 1999, staff numbers have fallen by only 3.6 per cent.
Germany’s Bundesbank has been only a little more thrifty, cutting numbers by 14 per cent to 13,600 by 2004. The European Central Bank employed a relatively modest 1,300.

Across the eurozone, 52,321 people were recorded as central bankers. Replacing 11 currencies by one ought to cut out all the duplicate posts but has so far saved 7 per cent.