BERLIN (MNI) - Foreign exchange rates won't be a major topic of discussion at the gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 and G20 at the upcoming IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, a senior German government official said Tuesday.

"Foreign exchange rates won't be in the forefront of the discussions," the source stressed.

On Thursday evening, the G7 will discuss the state of the global economy, fiscal consolidation and financial market regulation, the official said.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Sweden's central bank Tuesday left its key policy rate on hold at 0.25%, along with its repo rate forecast, but it revised down its forecasts for growth and inflation this year.

"The repo rate needs to remain at a low level to support production and employment and to attain the inflation target," the Riksbank said in a statement on its web site.

BRUSSELS (MNI) - Sweden's central bank Tuesday left its key policy rate on hold at 0.25%, along with its repo rate forecast, but it revised down its forecasts for growth and inflation this year.

"The repo rate needs to remain at a low level to support production and employment and to attain the inflation target," the Riksbank said in a statement on its web site.

FRANKFURT (MNI) - The European Central Bank said Tuesday that a total of E47.377 billion Eurosystem covered bond purchases had settled as of April 19.

As of April 18, settled acquisitions had totaled E47.215 billion, the ECB said Monday. The ECB plans to buy a total of around E60 billion covered bonds by the end of June 2010 at the latest.

The program is aimed at revitalizing a market segment that has been exceptionally hard hit by the financial turmoil.

BEIJING (MNI) - The People's Bank of China sold CNY40 billion in one-year paper on Tuesday as part of its regular biweekly open market operations, with the yield remaining unchanged at 1.9264%, traders said.

The yield has now remained unchanged for 12 weeks in a row, after having risen each of the previous two weeks.

The central bank earlier today drained CNY75 billion yuan from the interbank market via 28-day bond repurchase agreements, traders said.

BEIJING (MNI) - The People's Bank of China set the yuan's central parity rate at 6.8263 to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, slightly lower than the previous trading day's central parity of 6.8262.

The yuan finished at 6.8268 against the US dollar on the over-the-counter (OTC) market Monday, lower than last Friday's close of 6.8255.

Based on today's parity, the yuan is up 0.10% y/y against the dollar, according to Market News International calculations.

By Steven K. Beckner

(MNI) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will defend the Fed's role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers in Congressional testimony Tuesday.

Bernanke will make no apology for Lehman's September 2008 failure, which precipitated an intensification of the financial crisis, when he appears jointly with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and SEC Chair May Schapiro before the House Financial Services Committee.

WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the second and final part of text of testimony by former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld on the events surrounding the firm's bankruptcy and its accounting practices prepared for Tuesday's hearing by the House Financial Services Committee