ABSTRACT
There is, at the present time, a good deal of misunderstanding about central banking: the confusion which exists on the subject is dangerous, particularly for its consequences in the Third World, where almost every country regards an autonomous central bank as an essential ingredient in its own political and economic independence. The distinctive forms of modern central banking are, in fact, quite recent (Clapham, 1970, vol. ii, p. 421) and may be largely attributed to the development of scriptural money as the basis of all monetary systems, both national and international.
