A central bank is a country's principal monetary authority, responsible for such key functions as issuing currency and regulating the supply of credit in the economy.[1]

In most western democracies the central bank is independent from the government. This is designed to prevent political interference in monetary policy. Generally a government specifies with legislation the general aims of the central bank (usually maintaining a low level of inflation) but the day-to-day operations of it are immune from political pressure (in principle if not always in practice).[1]

## See also[edit]

* Federal Reserve

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oecon/chap12.htm