The impact of declining terms of trade and inflation on the export proceeds and debt burden of developing countries

This paper considers two problems related to the calculation of losses arising from changes in the terms of trade. First, the author discusses the choice of an appropriate formula for calculating the national gains or losses with respect to the trade balance as a result of changes in the terms of trade. Second, he studies the problem of determining whether the analysis can be extended to elucidate the gains or losses arising with respect to the service of the debt. These two questions are approached in the light of two earlier UNCTAD studies.     

On the measurement of imported inflation in developing countries

Zusammenfassung Zur Messung der importierten Inflation in Entwicklungsl?ndern. — W?hrend die Inflationsraten in allen Entwicklungsl?ndern in letzter Zeit stark angestiegen sind, war der Anstieg in den einzelnen L?ndern sehr unterschiedlich. Dies erh?hte das Interesse daran, den Teil der Preissteigerung festzustellen, der auf ?u\ere Einflüsse zurückzuführen ist. Hier wird die Ansicht vertreten, da\ die relative Bedeutung der importierten Inflation leicht überbetont werden kann, wenn man bei Entwicklungsl?ndern mit Annahmen arbeitet, die üblicherweise für Industriel?nder angewandt werden. Insbesondere dürften in Entwicklungsl?ndern Abweichungen der Produktion vom Trend aus verschiedenen Gründen ein schlechtes Ma\ für einen Nachfrageüberschu\ sein. Es trifft auch nicht notwendigerweise zu, da\ Entwicklungsl?nder ausl?ndische Reserveflüsse nicht neutralisieren k?nnen. Unter diesen Umst?nden dürfte — wie am Beispiel der Philippinen gezeigt wird — eine Geldmengen-Preis-Gleichung weit erfolgreicher sein, zwischen Importpreisen und inl?ndischem Nachfragesog als Ursache der Inflation zu unterscheiden.

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Résumé Sur le mesurage d’inflation importée dans des pays en voie de développement. — Pendant que les taux d’inflation ont fortement accéléré dans des pays développants récemment, les accroissements ont varié considérablement dans les pays augmentant l’intérêt d’identifier cette partie d’inflation là qui est due aux causes externes. Ici nous arguons que l’application des suppositions aux pays développants utilisées communément pour des pays développés peut facilement exagérer l’importance relative de l’inflation importée. Particulièrement, pour les pays développants, les déviations de la tendance de production seront une bonne mesure de la demande d’excès pour des nombreuses raisons. Il n’est pas aussi nécessairement vrai que les pays en voie de développement ne peuvent pas stériliser les afflux des changes. Sous ces circonstances, nous démonstrons pour les Philippines qu’une quantité d’équation de prix d’argent peut avoir beaucoup plus de succès de distinguer entre les prix d’importation et les pressions de démande locale comme sources d’inflation.

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Resumen Sobre la medición de la inflaci⤵ importada en países en desarrollo. — Mientras las tasas de inflaci⤵ recientemente se han acelerado en forma acentuada en los países en desarrollo, los aumentos han variado considerablemente a traves de países, elevando el interés por identificar la parte de la inflación debida a causas externas. Aquí se argumenta que la aplicación de supuestos comunmente utilizados para países desarrollados en paises en desarrollo pueden exagerar fácilmente la importancia relativa de la inflación importada. En particular, para países en desarrollo, desviaciones de la trayectoria de productión serán por varias razones una medida poco satisfactoria para el exceso de demanda. Tampoco es necesariamente cierto que los países en desarrollo no pueden esterilizar los flujos de moneda extranjera. Bajo estas circunstancias, como se muestra para las Filipinas, una ecuación preciocantidad de dinero puede ser mucho más exitosa para la distributión entre precios de importatión y presiones de demanda doméstica como fuentes de inflación.

     

Some aspects of financial policies and central banking in developing countries

Economic development can be not only facilitated but its pace can be quickened by the appropriate development of the financial system. This paper indicates the broad contours of a set of financial policies essential for the evolution of a sound and well-integrated financial system and emphasizes the role of a central bank not only as a regulator but also as a promoter of such a system. It is strange that this dual role of central banks is not sufficiently appreciated by the international institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.     

The impact of terrorism on public debt in African countries

Given the increase in the number of terrorist attacks in African countries, a better understanding of the relationship between terrorism, the informal economy and public debt is essential for policymakers. The model is empirically tested for 47 countries during the period 1996–2015. We use ordinary least squares (OLS), random effects (ER) and system generalized method of moments (GMM). Three terrorism indicators are used: the uncertain, the domestic, and the transnational. The results confirm that the rise in terrorism and the informal economy lead to an increase in public debt. The results also show that the informal economy magnifies the effect of terrorism on public debt. In addition, the results suggest that a larger informal economy reduces income taxes and therefore increases public debt and the increase in public spending reinforces the effects of terrorism on public debt. The reduction of terrorism should therefore be governments’ primary political objective. Given the detected complementarity between terrorism and the informal economy, the reduction of terrorism would also reduce the size of the informal economy and the public debt. The reduction of terrorism will also minimize the harmful effects of terrorism on public debt through public spending.     

The impact of financial development on the effectiveness of inflation targeting in developing economies

An ever-increasing number of developing economies with varied levels of financial development have adopted Inflation Targeting (IT) frameworks to guide monetary policy. Using a panel dataset of 54 developing economies over the period 1980 to 2015 (30 of which have IT frameworks), we re-visit the rather controversial issue of whether adoption of an IT framework leads to superior outcomes in terms of reducing inflation and its variability. After controlling for potential endogeneity and self-selection concerns of policy adoption, our main empirical finding is that IT frameworks appear to reduce inflation rates in developing economies regardless of the level of financial development, while it reduces variability of inflation rates only when we control for levels of financial market development. We further find that the effectiveness of IT framework on inflation is highly dependent on financial inclusion and bank characteristics, while the effect on inflation variability is more associated with components of capital market development.     

Monetary discipline and inflation in developing countries: the role of the exchange rate regime

Adherence to a pegged exchange rate regime has the potentialto affect inflation in two ways: by instilling monetary disciplineand by altering the relationship between money and prices, becauseshocks to the money stock are absorbed partly by changes inthe balance of payments. Although the latter is a disequilibriumphenomenon (if balance of payments deficits are unsustainablein the long run), it might still be important in the mediumterm. Evidence on the relative importance and magnitude of thetwo effects is presented, using cross-sectional macroeconomicdata from 80 LDCs. Both effects are found to be significant.     

Some aspects of China's agricultural development experience: Implications for developing countries in Asia

China's rather ‘unorthodox’ rural development strategies have attracted growing interest from developing countries in search of more effective development alternatives. The Chinese experiment is characterized by: (1) heavy emphasis on the institutional precondition for agricultural development; (2) rejection of urban-biased policies for more balanced strategies comprising many distinctly pro-agrarian measures; and (3) an integrated approach, centred primarily on the communes, which closely links production to distribution, rural capital formation, rural industrialization, and a wide range of non-farm activities. The Chinese experience should be instructive to many developing countries, even though its direct transfer-ability to different political and social contexts is often called into question.     

The impact of microfinance on poverty and income inequality in developing countries

Economic growth in developing countries provides an opportunity to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, in reality, the number of people living in extreme poverty remains unacceptably high. Utilising the experiences of 34 developing countries for the period 2009 to 2016, the role of microfinance on poverty in these countries is examined. The results imply that the degree to which the existing forms of microfinance effectively reduce extreme poverty is less workable in developing countries, particularly when the hardcore poor are likely being deprived of receiving access to microfinance. It is suggested that governments may need to revise the structure and strategy of microfinance to be more hardcore poor oriented. The hardcore poor have needs beyond pure monetary assistance. More hand‐holding types of assistance are needed as most are also poor in respect of literacy, assets, and skills.     

Transfer pricing and developing countries: Some problems of investigation

This paper reviews some of the main problems which arise for developing host countries in the investigation of transfer pricing of commodity trade by transnational corporations in manufacturing industry. The paper deals in turn with the following: the problems raised by the fact that the extent of intra-firm trade and the potential for manipulating transfer prices from case to case, especially because of the nature of technological innovation; the main handicaps faced by host developing country governments in collecting data on transfer pricing; and, the difficult conceptual issues that arise in defining the correct reference prices by which transfer prices may be judged. It concludes with the suggestion that intercountry cooperation is the most promising course of action in order to surmount these problems.     

The impact of rising oil prices on oil-importing developing countries and the scope for adjustment

Zusammenfassung Die Auswirkungen steigender ?lpreise auf die ?limportierenden Entwicklungsl?nder und der Spielraum für Anpassungen. — In diesem Aufsatz werden mit Hilfe eines Simulationsmodells sowohl die Auswirkungen steigender ?lpreise auf die ?limportierenden Entwicklungsl?nder als auch die Anpassungsma\nahmen untersucht, die dazu beitragen, diese Folgen weitgehend zu mildem. Ermittelt werden die Wirkungen auf das Wachstum des Bruttoinlandsprodukts, die Inflationsrate und die Handelsbilanz von Brasilien, Indien und Kenia. Es zeigt sich, da\ nach einer ?lpreiserh?hung das Realeinkommen am st?rksten zurückgeht und die Inflationsrate am h?chsten ist, wenn die Nominall?hne der Inflationsrate angepa\t werden. Die geringsten Einbu\en für das Realeinkommen ergeben sich, wenn die Staatsausgaben nicht durch die Inflation aufgezehrt, sondern real aufrechterhalten werden. Die Kehrseite der Medaille ist, da\ sich die Handelsbilanz bei voller Anpassung der L?hne am wenigsten und bei konstanten realen Staatsausgaben am st?rksten verschlechtert. Ein beruhigendes Ergebnis ist, da\ alternative Annahmen über die Einkommens- und Preiselastizit?ten die Resultate der verschiedenen Simulationen nicht wesentlich beeintr?chtigen.

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Résumé Les effets des prix pétroliers accroissants sur les pays développants importants du pétrole et la marge d’ajuster. — Dans cet article les auteurs appliquent un modèle de simulation pour analyser les effets des prix pétroliers accroissants sur les pays développants importants du pétrole aussi bien que les mesures d’ajustement qui contribuent à mitiger largement cet effet. On démontre les effets sur la croissance du produit intérieur brut, le taux d’inflation et sur la balance commerciale du Brésil, de l’Inde et du Kenya. On a trouvé que le revenu réel se réduit le plus et l’inflation s’accroit le plus après une augmentation du prix pétrolier si les salaires nominaux sont ajustés suivant le taux d’inflation. L’effet le plus faible sur le revenu réel est obtenu si les dépenses du gouvernement ne sont pas érodées par l’inflation mais maintenues en terme réel. Le revers de la médaille est que la balance commerciale se détériore le moins dans le cas d’un ajustement complet des salaires et qu’elle est affectée le plus dans le cas mentionné en dernier lieu. Un résultat rassurant est que des suppositions alternatives sur les élasticités de revenu et de prix n’influencent pas significativement le résultat des simulations différentes.

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Resumen El impacto de precios del petróleo crecientes sobre los países en desarrollo importadores de petróleo y el ámbito de ajuste. — En este artículo se analizan mediante la utilización de un modelo de simulación el impacto de precios del petróleo crecientes sobre países en desarrollo importadores de petróleo como también las medidas de ajuste que ayudan a suavizar ampliamente este impacto. El modelo se aplicó para mostrar el impacto sobre el crecimiento del producto geográfico bruto, la tasa de inflaeión y la balanza comercial de Brasil, India y Kenia. Se descubrió que después de un aumento de precios del petr?leo la declinación del ingreso real es mayor y la inflaeión es la más alta si los salarios nominales se ajustan en la misma proporeión que la tasa de inflaeión. El impacto ’mas bajo sobre el ingreso real se obtiene si el gasto del Gobierno no se erosiona por la inflaeión y se mantiene en términos reales. La otra cara de la medalla es que en el caso de ajuste total de los salarios, la balanza comercial se détériora en la menor proporeión mientras que en el último caso es afectada en la mayor proporeión. Un resultado reconfortante es que suposiciones alternativas sobre elasticidades de ingresos y precios no afectan significativamente los resultados de las variadas simulaciones.

     

Determinants of exchange-rate regimes for currencies of developing countries: Some preliminary results

The breakdown of the Bretton Woods system gave the LDCs an opportunity to move away from exchange-rate regimes based on pegging to a single currency. Relatively few chose to do so, thus providing some evidence that, from their point of view, the recognized advantages of more flexible exchange-rate arrangements are more than outweighed by the recognized drawbacks.The aim of this article is to set up a suitable econometric model and use it for a preliminary assessment of the quantitative significance of various factors affecting the choice of exchange-rate regimes by the LDCs.     

Some theoretical and empirical issues relating to economic stabilization in developing countries

This paper surveys some issues relating to economic stabilization in developing countries. Section 2 examines the contributions of terms-of-trade deterioration and real exchange rate appreciation to payments imbalances in non-oil developing countries during the 1970s. Section 3 distinguishes between demand-side and supply-side policies, and discusses their respective roles in stabilization programmes. The effects of exchange-rate changes are considered within this framework. In Section 4, the effects of alternative stabilization policies on output, prices and the balance of payments are illustrated using simulations of a model that incorporates the major relationships relevant to a typical programme. Section 5 summarizes the conclusions.     

International shipping and the developing countries

The existence of a strong cartel in shipping, operated by developed countries in their own interest, has long been a subject of resentment and criticism by the less developed countries. This paper describes the structure of international shipping, the way in which ‘Liners Conferences’ operate, the efforts of UNCTAD to get a better deal for the Third World, and the options open to developing countries to improve their relative economic position in this vital industry.     

China's impact on South African trade and inflation

There has been much controversy about the impact of Chinese growth on the rest of the world. It is generally accepted that China has a dampening effect on global inflation through the supply of cheap products. On the other hand, imports from China could displace domestic production and hence have adverse effects on economic growth and employment. Thus, the question of whether a country benefits from trading with China is a country-specific issue. The results in this paper indicate that limited short-term costs have resulted from the strengthening of trade relations between South Africa and China. As far as inflation is concerned, the paper does not find convincing empirical evidence at the aggregate level for inflation in China leading to domestic price changes. At the disaggregate level, however, there appear to be stronger sector-specific linkages between prices in China and South Africa.     

投资于亚洲国家的主权债务更安全吗?

本文利用全球21个主要经济体的样本数据,通过跨期主权债务模型和实证模型的分析,探讨这些国家的主权债务风险情况,并给出各国所处的不同风险层级。研究结果表明世界上主要经济体的主权债务状况呈现较为明显的分化状态,且在区域内表现出明显的不对称性。亚洲和欧洲等地区都有国家分处在不同的安全级别,任何一个洲在整体上都不在主权债务安全水平上有特别的优势。本文的实证结果还同时甄别出现阶段主权债务风险较低的国家,为我国巨额外汇储备的投资组合提供了选择依据。