Exchange Rate Pass-Through, Monetary Policy, and Real Exchange Rates: Iceland and the 2008 Crisis

We use detailed data for Iceland to examine two often-neglected aspects of the exchange rate pass-through problem. First, we investigate whether the pass-through coefficient varies with the degree of international tradability of goods. Second, we analyze if the pass-through coefficient depends on the monetary policy framework. We consider 12 disaggregated price indexes in Iceland for 2003–2019, a period that includes Iceland’s banking and currency crisis of 2008. We find that the pass-through declined around the time Iceland reformed its flexible inflation targeting, and that the coefficients are significantly higher for tradable than for nontradables.

Currency regimes and external competitiveness: the role of institutions, trade agreements and monetary frameworks

The literature lacks consensus on the role of currency regimes in explaining external competitiveness. Countries not only differ in terms of currency regimes, but can also have different institutional arrangements, namely trade agreements and inflation targeting (IT) frameworks in addition to the overall quality of governance. Hence, using the real effective exchange rate and by covering 35 developing countries over the period 1975–2014, we investigate the role of currency regimes in explaining the degree of misalignment while considering institutional factors. First, we find that intermediate regimes limit the currency misalignment with greater financial openness (FO). Second, non-reciprocal preferential trade agreements improve price competitiveness, whereas free trade and reciprocal ones can only be beneficial with a higher degree of FO. Third, misalignments in fixed regimes decline in the presence of stronger institutions or in countries with an IT type of monetary policy framework. The above results remain robust to alternative specifications.

The Fed will be very cautious about policy tightening

Significance The Fed targets an average annual inflation rate of 2% but, under its 2020 monetary policy framework, will tolerate a moderate overshoot to make up for past low inflation. The Fed has been willing to let the economy ‘run hot’ to sustain the post-pandemic recovery. Impacts Inflation pressures and expectations will be only one guide to Fed policy; the path of the public health crisis will weigh more. As policy is now anchored on CPI expectations, a miscommunication of its next move would hurt the Fed more than the 2013 'taper tantrum'. Structural economic transformation is making CPI less sensitive to resource slack, complicating the assessment of inflationary pressures. If high inflation takes hold, the necessary high interest rates will strain the government’s ability to service its record deficits.

Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis

The 20th anniversary of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) offers an opportunity to look back on the record of the European Central Bank (ECB) and learn lessons that can improve the conduct of policy in the future. This volume charts the way the ECB has defined, interpreted, and applied its monetary policy framework—its strategy—over the years from its inception, in search of evidence and lessons that can inform those reflections. Our ‘Tale of Two Decades’ is largely a tale of ‘two regimes’: one—stretching slightly beyond the ECB’s mid-point—marked by decent growth in real incomes and a distribution of shocks to inflation almost universally to the upside; and the second—starting well into the post-Lehman period—characterized by endemic instability and crisis, with the distribution of shocks eventually switching from inflationary to continuously disinflationary. We show how the most defining feature of the ECB’s monetary policy framework, its characteristic definition of price stability with a hard 2 per cent ceiling, functioned as a key shock absorber in the relatively high-inflation years prior to the crisis, but offered a softer defence in the face of the disinflationary forces that hit the euro area in its aftermath. The imperative to halt persistent disinflation in the post-crisis era therefore called for a radical, unprecedented policy response, comprising negative policy rates, enhanced forms of forward guidance, a large asset purchase programme and targeted long-term loans to banks. We study the multidimensional interactions among these four instruments and quantify their impact on inflation and the macroeconomy.

Flexible Average Inflation Targeting and Inflation Expectations: A Look at the Reaction by Professional Forecasters

This Commentary examines the response of longer-run inflation expectations to the FOMC’s August 2020 announced switch to a flexible average inflation-targeting (FAIT) regime. The data indicate an upward shift in the lower end (below 2 percent) of the distribution of inflation expectations and a stronger anchoring of expectations around the 2 percent inflation objective following the announcement, evidence that is consistent with intended effects of the change in the monetary policy framework. To provide context, we also include a retrospective assessment of the response of inflation expectations to the FOMC’s January 2012 announcement of an inflation objective. Lessons from the 2012 announcement suggest that conclusions about the adoption of the FAIT regime should be viewed as tentative. Consequently, we also describe indicators and features of the data to monitor developments going forward.

Towards Full-Fledged Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy Regime in Mauritius

An increasing number of emerging and developing countries have adopted or are transitioning towards full-fledged inflation targeting (FFIT) as the main monetary policy framework to anchor inflation. In this paper, we explore the FFIT regime as a means for Mauritius to achieve stable inflation, anchor inflationary expectations and establish credibility in committing monetary policy towards price stability as its primary goal. This paper reviews and highlights issues experienced with the current monetary policy framework and the challenges in transitioning towards FFIT. Given that forecasting is central to FFIT, we develop a practical model-based forecasting and policy analysis system (FPAS) to support transition to FFIT, taking into account structural features and shocks that are specific to the Mauritius economy.

The BSP’s journey towards a progressive monetary policy framework

This paper examines the evolution of monetary policy framework in the country. It starts the journey with the establishment of the central bank after the Second World War, when there was still no active monetary policy as the country operated on a fixed exchange rate system and supply-led credit programs. The paper describes the challenges with the implementation of monetary policy reforms in the 1980s, particularly the shift to a “managed float” exchange rate system and the adoption of monetary aggregate targeting framework in the context of deregulation and liberalization. It further discusses the development of monetary policy framework and operations, following the creation of an independent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in 1993, with the primary mandate of maintaining price stability. It provides a narrative on how the monetary aggregate targeting framework was modified to its eventual shift to an inflation targeting (IT) framework. It highlights the relative success of IT and discusses the innovative approaches undertaken by the BSP to further enhance liquidity management. Moving forward, the BSP’s monetary policy framework and operations will likely continue evolving and serving as steady anchors of macroeconomic stabilization. This will be guided by foresight, commitment to action and helpful lessons from the past, in the context of increased uncertainty.