The Determinants of Time‐Varying Exchange Rate Pass‐Through in South Africa

The pass‐through of shifts in the rand exchange rate to consumer price inflation has been well documented for South Africa. Although estimates of the absolute level of pass‐through vary, some studies document a decline in pass‐through over time. In order to better illuminate the policy implications of pass‐through, this paper seeks to add to the literature by decomposing pass‐through into a number of time‐varying impulses. This has the advantage of providing deeper insights of pass‐through over time and across various monetary policy regimes. We then analyse the determinants of time‐varying pass‐through. Our results confirm that pass‐through has declined over time but is subject to a stable and low inflation environment. We also show that a volatile exchange rate leads to higher pass‐through.     

Inflation Targeting and the Pass‐through Rate in East Asian Economies

There has been serious debate regarding whether the inflation targeting (IT) framework for the emerging market economies has been an effective nominal anchor. Focusing on Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, this article aims to contribute to the debate by providing empirical evidence on a decline in the ‘pass‐through’ effect with IT adoption. Our main findings are as follows. First, under the IT framework, Korea has followed an inflation responsive rule in a forward‐looking manner, while Thailand has adopted the rule in a backward‐looking manner. Second, only Korea experiences a reduction in the pass‐through effect under IT adoption, thereby showing a linkage between the forward‐looking inflation responsive rule and the pass‐through effect. Finally, a test of the sensitivity of inflation expectations to external price shocks in Korea supports this linkage.     

Interest Rate Pass‐Through in Mongolia

This study empirically examines the interest rate pass‐through of the money market interest rate to bank lending and bank deposit interest rates in Mongolia using both linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models. The results from the empirical analysis using data from December 2002 to September 2015 suggest that interest rate pass‐through is generally weaker, slower, and asymmetric in Mongolia. The new findings provide evidence that: (i) interest rate pass‐through has improved over time; (ii) the bank deposit rate has a higher long‐run interest rate pass‐through and slower adjustment than the bank lending rate; and (iii) there is a negative long‐run asymmetric pass‐through with respect to the bank lending rate and a positive long‐run asymmetric pass‐through with respect to the bank deposit rate.     

Exchange Rate Pass‐through to China's Export Price: A Product‐level Investigation

Exchange rate movement usually results in changes in the production costs of exporting firms, and, therefore, the prices and the quantity of traded products. The present paper constructs a theoretical model to demonstrate that export products with higher productivity, or with larger market share, or of higher quality will experience a less complete pass‐through. Using the six‐digit harmonized system export data from the CEPII database over the period of 2000 to 2013, the present paper examines how product heterogeneity affects the exchange rate pass‐through of Chinese exports. The empirical results show that the most competitive Chinese export products, or those least affected by exchange rate risks, are those of higher quality, with higher technological complexity and at the high end of the international value chain. Therefore, Chinese exporting firms should pay more attention to improving export quality and upgrading technology to better cope with exchange rate risks and to enjoy more bargaining power in the international market.     

Basic Needs in the Northern Province and South Africa’s Globalization Agenda

The requirement for the improvement of poor people’s basic needs and overall quality of life is inseparable from concerns with sustainability and state capacity for executing social welfare responsibilities. South Africa has, paradoxically, redefined state role away from social provision, as it replaced the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) with the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy in 1996. Whereas the RDP accorded the state a pivotal role in meeting basic needs, GEAR pursued outward‐looking development. In accordance with the logic of GEAR, the Northern Province Government formulated its Growth and Development Strategy (GDS), essentially an offspring of that macro‐policy. Using the Northern Province as case study, this paper illustrates that GEAR and GDS have engendered outward‐looking development that is also open to the dictates of external forces. It is argued that South Africa and that province are as such inserted into the global system in a way that they cannot shape or domesticate globalization for resolution of their germane development difficulties. We point out that that form of globalization has not led to the improvement of the poor people’s access to basic needs. In conclusion, we urge for the establishment of a strong developmental state that would engender auto‐centeredness. La nécessité de relever le degré de satisfaction des besoins fondamentaux des pauvres et la qualité de vie en général est inséparable des préoccupations de viabilité et de la capacité de l’Etat d’assumer ses responsabilités en matière de protection sociale. Paradoxalement, l’Afrique du Sud a redéfini le rôle de l’Etat en le dissociant des préoccupations sociales, et remplacé le Programme de reconstruction et développement (RDP) par une Stratégie pour la croissance, l’emploi et la redistribution (GEAR) en 1996. Alors que le RDP accordait à l’Etat un rôle central dans la satisfaction des besoins fondamentaux, la GEAR visait un développement tourné vers l’extérieur. S’inscrivant dans la logique de la GEAR, les autorités de la Province septentrionale ont formulé une Stratégie de croissance et développement (GDS) issue essentiellement de cette macropolitique. Basant son étude de cas sur la Province septentrionale, l’article suggère que la GEAR et la GDS ont engendré un développement tourné vers l’extérieur qui est également sensible aux impératifs des forces extérieures. Selon l’auteur, l’Afrique du Sud et la province septentrionale sont tellement intégrées dans le système mondialisé qu’elles ne peuvent ni formuler ni maîtriser la mondialisation pour résoudre leurs propres problèmes de développement. Nous soulignons que cette forme de mondialisation n’a pas entraîné une meilleure satisfaction des besoins fondamentaux pour les pauvres. En conclusion, nous appelons de nos v?ux la mise en place d’une situation de développement forte qui puisse engendrer un développement centré sur lui‐même.     

Dollars for Sale: Exchange Rate Policy and Inflation in Africa

In Africa, the government is often the main provider of foreign exchange, acquired through aid or via a nationalized mining sector, although a parallel market is also usually active. A policy of indexing the official exchange rate on the parallel one is destabilizing, while a nominal anchor policy, has the opposite effect. Using the case of Nigeria, these stylized facts are interpreted in the light of an analytical model with rational expectations. The case of Guinea is also presented, as an example of where the nominal anchor policy has succeeded.     

Monetary Policy Impulses and Retail Interest Rate Pass‐Through in Asian Banking Markets

This paper considers the integration of financial markets and mutual influences of monetary policies in the USA and Asia based on monthly data from 1994 to 2007. We used panel‐type and time‐series and quantile panel‐type error correction models to test the influences of expected and unexpected monetary policy impulses on the interest rate pass‐through mechanism in the financial markets of 9 Asian countries and the USA. The empirics show that if interest rate integration exists in the financial markets, the following effects are observed: (i) positive impulses of unexpected monetary policy will lead to an increase in the long‐run multiplier of the retail interest rate; (ii) the adjustment of retail interest rates with short‐run disequilibrium will lead to an increase in the long‐run markup; and (iii) the empirical results of quantile regression prove that when the interest variation is greater than the 0.5th quantile and unexpected monetary policy impulses are greater than the expected monetary policy impulses, the short‐run interest rate pass‐through mechanism becomes more unstable.     

新兴市场经济国家通货膨胀发生概率与汇率制度选择——基于定性响应模型的实证研究

汇率制度选择问题是国际金融学研究领域的重要研究问题,选择适当的汇率制度对于处在转型过程中的新兴市场经济国家具有重要的现实意义。本文对23个新兴市场经济国家的460个样本建立了定性响应模型（Qualitative response model）,对这些国家1985—2004年间汇率制度与通胀发生概率二者之间的关系进行了实证分析,研究发现：固定汇率制度可以降低通胀发生的概率;模拟结果显示,如果我国实行固定汇率制度,通货膨胀发生的概率均明显低于同期对应的其他汇率制度下的概率;通货膨胀发生概率多次出现的阶段性高点与我国历次通货膨胀发生的时间段相吻合;2007年和2008年我国具有较高的发生通胀的可能性。目前,我国尚处于经济转型之中,应该继续维持固定汇率制度,以此作为反通胀的名义驻锚。     

Inflation and Inflation Expectations in South Africa: an Attempt at Explanation

This paper examines the relationship between inflation and inflation expectations in South Africa. We use inflation expectations derived from the quarterly surveys conducted by the Bureau of Economic Research from 2001Q1 to 2011Q4 . Using these data, we estimate the model assuming that private sector expectations are a linear function of the inflation target and lagged inflation. The results indicate that economic agents' expectations largely depend on lagged inflation. This suggests that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has not been successful in anchoring expectations of the private sector since the adoption of the inflation targeting (IT) regime in 2000. We also find evidence indicating that the SARB's implicit inflation target lies above the upper bound of the official IT band. Finally, it appears that the SARB has been more concerned about output stabilisation than inflation stabilisation.     

Government Spending Patterns and the Real Exchange Rate in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Do government spending patterns and composition influence the behaviour of the real exchange rate in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)? First, we present a two‐sector small open economy model which proposes that government spending together with productivity differential leads to real exchange rate appreciation. Then, we take these propositions to SSA data and perform a coordinated empirical analysis. Interestingly, we find empirical support for the propositions in SSA. Finally, we disaggregate government spending into three components—consumption, investment and transfer payments—and check whether the composition of government spending provides any insight into the behaviour of the real exchange rate in SSA. Our results suggest that government composition does influence the real exchange rate in SSA. Specifically, we find that government consumption induces a real appreciation while government investment leads to a real depreciation. Although these findings yield appropriate magnitudes and signed directions, their effects are not always significant.     

汇率传递效应与宏观经济冲击对通货膨胀的影响分析

运用递归的VAR模型,本文经验估计了人民币名义有效汇率变动对国内消费者价格指数和工业品出厂价格指数及其分类指数的传递效应;同时考察了其他宏观经济冲击对国内物价水平的影响。结论表明:在我国,汇率的传递效应不显著;汇率变动对工业品出厂价格指数及其分类指数的影响,显著大于对消费者价格指数及其分类指数的影响;不同行业的汇率传递效应存在显著差别;供给冲击是导致工业品价格指数变化的主要因素,而实际需求冲击是导致消费者价格变化的主要因素。     

Interest Rate Pass‐through in Malawi: Implications for the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy

This study investigates the interest rate pass‐through in Malawi and its implications on monetary policy effectiveness. Using the cost‐of‐funds approach and monthly data from 2009 to 2015, an autoregressive distributed lag model is fitted. Results show that there is a near complete pass‐through to the lending rate but not the savings rate. The magnitude of the pass‐through is relatively higher under smaller banks. The results suggest that the structure of the banking industry matters. Market power is important in understanding the variation in lending and savings rates across banks. Overall, short‐term rates as operating targets are consistent with inflation targeting in Malawi.     

Economic Liberalization and Conditional Volatility of Exchange Rate in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Asymmetric GARCH Analysis

Abstract: For small open economies, an understanding of movements in the exchange rate is imperative in analyzing trade and capital flows. In addition, reliable forecasting of exchange rate volatility is important in risk‐taking assessment and investment decision‐making, both of which are critical to long‐term growth. Using an asymmetric GARCH‐type approach, this paper examines the implications of economic liberalization on the stochastic behavior of the exchange rate series in a sample of sub‐Sahara African (SSA) countries over the 1970–2004 period. The results indicate that exchange rate volatility is variable, and is less volatile under fixed exchange rate regime (pre‐economic liberalization) and higher under flexible regime (post‐economic liberalization), that is, it is asymmetric. For most of the countries, the EGARCH and TGARCH models are robust to parameter stability and gives better forecasting performance compared to the standard GARCH model.     

Volatility Spillovers between the Equity Market and Foreign Exchange Market in South Africa in the 1995‐2010 Period

This paper attempts to assess the extent of volatility spillovers between the equity market and the foreign exchange market in South Africa. Multistep family of the General Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity models are used for this end, whereby volatility shocks obtained from the mean equation estimation in each market are included in the conditional volatility of the other market, respectively. The paper selects the appropriate volatility models for each market following criteria such as covariance stationarity, persistence in variance and leverage effects. The finding of the paper indicates that there is a unidirectional relationship in terms of volatility spillovers from the equity market to the foreign exchange market. The paper supports the view that the extent of foreign participation in the South African equity market possibly contributes to this phenomenon.     

Revisiting unemployment levels and trends in South Africa since the transition

Many recent studies compared the 1995 October Household Survey (OHS) with the latest available Labour Force Survey (LFS) to derive the unemployment ‘trends’ in South Africa since the transition, but this approach only gives a snapshot of unemployment at two points in time. Although the better approach is to examine all available labour surveys to derive the real unemployment trends during the period, this does not mean these trends are fully reliable and comparable, as the sampling method, weighting technique, questionnaire design and labour market status derivation methodology to define the unemployed are different across the surveys. In particular, the unemployment estimates in OHS 1995–99 and during the changeover between OHS and LFS in both narrow and broad terms increased rapidly. This paper aimed to address these issues, if possible, in order to improve the comparability and reliability of unemployment aggregates across the surveys.