Monetary and Fiscal Policy

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Monetary Policy

Monetary policy is the mechanism of a country’s monetary authority (usually the central bank) controlling money in the economy so as to promote economic growth and stability by creating relatively stable prices and low unemployment. A monetary policy mainly deals with the supply of money, availability of money, cost of money and the rate of interest so as to attain a set of objectives aiming towards growth and stability of the economy.

Monetary policy is said to be expansionary when it increases the total supply of money in the economy more rapidly than usual. But it can also be termed as contractionary if it expands the overall money supply in a slower rate or shrink it. The price at which money can be borrowed at is usually referred to as the economy’s interest rates. The main aims of monetary policies are: control inflation, control economic growth, unemployment and the exchange rates.

Different economies in the world experience varying economic difficulties demanding for varying solutions. The economic problems vary with the economical stability of the particular country and the ability to take adequate preventive measures. This has driven the economists to classify the monetary policies into different categories. Here are some of the types of monetary policy:

Inflation targeting: This is a type of monetary policy whose primary aim is to keep the inflation at a certain desired range. This is maintained for a period varying from months to years reviewable in a monthly or quarterly basis by a policy committee. The inflation target is achieved through periodic adjustment on the central bank’s interest rates.

Price level targeting: In price level targeting, the consumer price index growth is one year over or ...

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...nomic growth. This puts the economies in a tight place trying to balance the two contradicting but important goals. As a result attempts to implement a fiscal policy bear little or no fruits (Jha, 2007).

References List

Bernanke S. Ben, 2006. Monetary Aggregates and Monetary Policy at the Federal Reserve.

Retrieved from: http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/ref/harvard.htm.

Bhattacharya Rudrani Ila & Shah Patnaik Ajay, 2011. Monetary Policy Transmission In An

Emerging Market Setting. Retrieved from: http://www.nipfp.org.in/working_paper/wp_2011_78.pdf.

Jha Rhagbedra, 2007. Fiscal Policy in Developing Countries. Retrieved from:

http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/asarc/pdf/papers/2007/WP2007_01.pdf.

Lipsky John, 2010. Fiscal Policies Challenges in Post-Crisis World. Retrieved from:

http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2010/032110.htm.

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