Inflation Targeting in Iran
Bijan Bidabad[1] �����������Nahid Kalbasi Anaraki[2]
Abstract
Inflation
targeting in various forms has been adopted by a number of countries as a
framework for making monetary policy more coherent and transparent and for
increasing the credibility of monetary policy. Despite the language, referring
to inflation target as the primary objective of monetary policy, central
bankers always make room for short-run stabilization objectives, particularly
with respect to output and exchange rate. Inflation targeting, in most cases,
reduces the role of intermediate targets, such as exchange rate or money growth
rate.
Experience of other
countries that have adopted inflation targeting as a monetary framework reveals
that the success of the policy depends on not only the transparency of the
operation but also on the budgetary discipline. Indeed, the central banks that
have become more transparent, more independent, more coherent, and more accountable
and more credible have been more successful.
The controversy
among economists on the expenses of inflation targeting has attained particular
attention during the past decades .While opponents believe that inflation
targeting takes place at the expense of output shortfalls (Cechetti and Ehrmann
1999), proponents (Mishkin 2000, Jonas and Mishkin 2003) believe that inflation
targeting promotes investment and economic growth. This paper tries to address
the question of whether the performance of inflation targeting in Iran has been
successful. Based on a �monetary model, using
exogenous variables such as official exchange rate, budget deficit, foreign
exchange obligation account, and balance of payments, the results suggest that the
effects of inflation targeting on the real output is trivial, supporting the
natural rate hypothesis.
Keywords: Inflation Targeting,
Macro-Econometric Model, Monetary Policy
1. Introduction
Indeed, the unhappy experience of the Latin America and East Asian
countries with pegged exchange rate regimes who subsequently found themselves
in deep financial crisis in the late 1990s has induced other countries to
search for alternative nominal anchors. The emergence of inflation targeting
over the past decade has been seen as a development in the approach of central
banks to the conduct of monetary policy. After the adoption by New Zealand in
1990, inflation targeting has been the choice of a growing number of central
banks in industrial and emerging economies, including Canada, Brazil, Chile, the
Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, and the U.K.
Inflation targeting is a monetary policy strategy that encompasses five
main elements: (i) the public announcement of the medium-term numerical target
for inflation (ii) an institutional commitment for price stability (iii) an
information inclusive strategy in which, many variables, and not just monetary
aggregates or the exchange rate are used for deciding the set of policy
instruments (iv) increased transparency of the monetary policy strategy through
communication with the public and the markets about the objectives, and
decisions, (v) increased accountability of the central bank for attaining its
inflation objectives.
Inflation targeting proponents cite many benefits to this policy,
including solving the dynamic inconsistency problem that produces a high
inflation rate and reducing inflation variability. Inflation targeting has also
the key advantage that is easily understood by the public and thus is highly
transparent. And last but not least, if flexible, it helps to stabilize output
as well.
Critics of inflation targeting have noted major disadvantages: (i)
inflation targeting is too rigid (ii) it allows too much discretion (iii) it
has the potential to increase output instability (iv) it will lower economic
growth (v) it produces weak central bank accountability because inflation is
hard to control and because there are long lags from the monetary policy
instruments to the inflation outcome (vi) exchange rate flexibility required by
inflation targeting might cause financial instability, (vii) and finally, it
may not be sufficient to ensure fiscal discipline or prevent fiscal
dominance.�
Indeed, a relatively long list of requirements should be met if the
inflation targeting is to operate successfully. These requirements include: (i)
a strong fiscal position (ii) a well understood transmission mechanism between
monetary policy instruments and inflation (iii) a well developed financial
system (iv) a clear mandate for price stability (v) absence of other nominal
anchors than inflation (vi) transparency and accountability of monetary policy.
Indeed, it is not possible to say whether a country meets these requirements or
not: it is more a question of the degree to which these preconditions are met.
One decade of inflation targeting in the world offers useful lessons on
the design and implementation of this framework. Since the Iranian economy has
started to adopt inflation targets in the medium-term through the Five Year
Development Plans since 1989, this paper tries to investigate the feasibility
of the targets within a monetary model. Moreover, it tests the hypothesis a
trade-off between inflation targeting and real output.�
In the next section, we review the performance of countries that have
adopted inflation targeting. Section III is allocated to the inflation
targeting and monetary policy instruments in Iran. Section IV presents the
estimated results of a monetary model, measuring the trade-off between inflation
and real output. And finally, the last section rap up and concludes.
2. Experience of
other countries
In this section, we try to investigate the success of reducing inflation
in some countries which adopted this policy. Moreover, we will investigate
whether the reduction in inflation rate has occurred at the cost of real output
reduction.
Cechetti and Ehrmann (1999) chose 23 countries where 9 have performed
some targeting for reducing inflation. They show that for the latter group
inflation fell by more than 7 percentage points on average, from 10.82 percent
in the late 1980s to 3.41 percent in the late 1990s, whereas for the non-targeted
the average reduction amounts to 3.6 percent. Indeed, inflation targeting has
achieved its primary objective of lowering inflation. Moreover, the output and
inflation statistics support the view that inflation targeters have reduced
inflation at the expense of an increase in output volatility. Indeed, the
outcome depends on many issues, including a country's economic structure, its
policy regime, and the actual pattern of shocks it has faced.[3]
In another study, Frederic S. Mishkin (2000) investigates inflation
targeting in an emerging economy, Chile. Before embarking the inflation
targeting, passed new central bank legislation in 1989, which gave independence
to the central bank and mandated price stability as one of its primary
objectives. Chile's central bank pursued a very gradualist approach to lowering
its inflation objectives. The Chilean experience was quite successful.
Inflation fell from about 20% in 1991 to around 3.5% in 2000. Over the same
period, output growth was very high, averaging more than 8 percent per year. Chile
experienced that inflation targeting can be used as a successful strategy for
gradual disinflation in emerging market countries, even when initial inflation
is around 20%. It is important to notice that inflation targeting cannot be
solely attributed to the actions of the central bank, supervision policies,
such as the absence of fiscal deficits and supervision of the financial sector
have been crucial to its success. ���
Jonas and Mishkin (2003) in their paper "Inflation Targeting in
Transition Countries: Experiences and Prospects" examine the inflation
targeting experience in three transition economies of the Czech Republic,
Poland, and Hungary. A key lesson from the experience of inflation targeting in
transition countries is that their economic performance has been improved. All
these countries have an independent central bank with a clear mandate to pursue
price stability. There has also been significant progress in making more
transparent monetary policy decision and more accountable central banks.
Financial markets are relatively well developed, allowing for reasonably
effective transmission mechanism between monetary policy instruments and
inflation.
With respect to fiscal position, fiscal deficits have widened
significantly, particularly in the Czech Republic and Hungary. However, these
deficits have not yet posed direct problems to inflation targeting in the sense
of fiscal dominance of monetary policy because they have been financed by
non-monetary means. Moreover, these countries have a regime of managed float,
and inflation is the only nominal anchor in the economy. The experience of
these transition countries shows that all three countries are preceding well
with disinflation and there is a good chance that in a few years, they should
be able to reach price stability. However, the process of disinflation is not a
smooth one. In this respect, one should bear in mind that countries could be
quite successful in the longer term in bringing inflation down, but if a
successful disinflation is accompanied by significant instability of inflation,
this could be costly for the economy as well.
There is not yet much we can say about the history of inflation targeting
in Hungary because it is so recent. The 2001 target was announced only in
August 2001, and it, therefore, was more a short-term inflation forecast than an
actual inflation target. Table (1) presents the history of inflation targeting
in the Czech Republic and Poland, telling a different story.
As it is seen in the above Table, in the Czech Republic, the central bank
undershot her inflation target, particularly in 1998 and 1999. Only in 2001 the
central bank succeeded in achieving her inflation targeting but undershot its
target again in 2002. In Poland, there was an opposite problem since the
national bank of Poland (NBP) overshot her target in 1999 and 2000. Very tight
monetary policy and slowing economic activity helped to bring inflation down
sharply in 2001, and subsequently, the 2001 and 2002 targets were undershot
quite sizable. These deviations may seem to suggest that inflation targeting
was not very successful in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Table (1).
Targeted and actual inflation in the Czech Republic and Poland
Country |
Czech
Republic (inf) |
Czech
Republic (inf) |
Poland
(inf) |
Poland
(inf) |
Year |
Target |
Actual |
Target |
Actual |
1998 |
5.5-6.5 |
1.7 |
X |
8.6 |
1999 |
4-5 |
1.5 |
6.4-7.8 |
9.8 |
2000 |
3.5-5.5 |
3 |
5.4-6.8 |
8.5 |
2001 |
2-4 |
2.4 |
6-8 |
3.6 |
2002 |
2.75-4.75 |
0.5 |
4-6 |
0.8 |
Source: Jonas and Mishkin, "Inflation Targeting in Transition
Countries: Experience and Prospects", NBER, working paper 9667, April
2003, p23.
Before making any definitive judgment about the success or failure of
inflation targeting, it is important to understand the reasons for such
significant deviations from targeted inflation. We have to examine more closely
the domestic and external economic circumstances that have prevailed during
this period and have affected the actual inflation. At the time that Czech
central bank launched inflation targeting, inflation was rising quite rapidly,
but at the same time, the economy was slipping into a prolonged recession. The
1998 and 2000 targets were specified at that time when the central bank, public
and private forecasters expected much stronger economic growth than what
actually occurred. However, in 1998-99 with the onset of a major banking crisis
in 1997-98, economic activity fell down and contributed to a much faster
disinflation than envisaged by the central bank. Moreover, in 1997-98, weak
global economic activity contributed to falling commodity prices, including
energy prices. The central bank calculations suggest that these external
factors had a sizeable effect on net inflation; for instance, in 1998, these
factors reduced the inflation by 2-3 percentage points.
Like in the Czech Republic, inflation in Poland had declined
significantly during 1998 and 1999, but this decline was less dramatic. The relatively
rapid economic growth of domestic demand, increase in import prices, and
monopolistic structure of some industries resulted in a reversal of disinflation
in Poland in 1999. Fiscal policy was also much more expansionary than the
national bank of Poland (NBP) had expected, and this expansionary stance
further fueled domestic demand. The NBP responded to these developments by
significant tightening of the monetary policy, and it continued to keep
monetary conditions very tight even when inflation began to fall sharply later
in 2000 and 2001. Indeed, the NBP tried to use a tight monetary policy stance
as an instrument to force the government to strengthen the structural fiscal
balance, even at the cost of significant undershooting of its inflation target.
Judging from the success point of view in meeting its inflation target,
the NBP has not been very successful, thus far. In the first two years,
inflation targets were overshot, and in the third and fourth years, there was a
significant undershooting. Indeed, in Poland, external factors may have been of
less importance in explaining the failure to meet inflation targets than in the
Czech Republic, while the conduct of macroeconomic policy has probably mattered
more. First, unexpected fiscal expansion combined with easy monetary policy
contributed to the acceleration of inflation and overshooting of inflation
targets; and subsequently, sharp tightening of monetary policy, in the absence
of further easing of fiscal policy, reduced inflation sharply and produced a
significant undershooting of the target. A difficult problem for inflation
targeting in transition countries is the stormy relationship between the
central bank and the government. This can be alleviated by having a direct
government involvement in the setting of the inflation target and with a more
active role of the central bank in communicating with both the government and
the public.�
Table (2). CPI
Inflation Rates in Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and the U.K.
Year |
Canada |
New
Zealand |
Sweden |
The
U.K. |
Industrial
countries |
1977-1986 |
7.5 |
13.1 |
9.2 |
9.5 |
7.3 |
1987 |
4.4 |
15.7 |
4.2 |
4.1 |
3.1 |
1988 |
4.0 |
6.4 |
5.8 |
4.9 |
3.4 |
1989 |
5.0 |
5.7 |
6.4 |
7.8 |
4.4 |
1990 |
4.8 |
6.1 |
10.5 |
9.5 |
5.0 |
1991 |
5.6 |
2.6 |
9.3 |
5.9 |
4.5 |
1992 |
1.5 |
1.0 |
2.3 |
3.7 |
3.3 |
1993 |
1.8 |
1.3 |
4.6 |
1.6 |
3.0 |
1994 |
0.2 |
1.7 |
2.2 |
2.5 |
2.4 |
1995 |
2.1 |
3.7 |
2.5 |
3.4 |
2.6 |
1996 |
1.6 |
2.3 |
0.5 |
2.4 |
2.4 |
1997 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
0.5 |
3.2 |
2.1 |
1998 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
-0.1 |
3.4 |
1.5 |
1999 |
1.7 |
-0.1 |
0.4 |
1.5 |
1.4 |
2000 |
2.7 |
2.5 |
0.9 |
2.8 |
2.2 |
2001 |
2.5 |
2.7 |
2.4 |
1.8 |
2.2 |
2002 |
2.2 |
2.6 |
2.1 |
1.6 |
1.5 |
Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics and IMF Outlooks,
Following McCallum (1996), we investigate inflation targeting
arrangements in Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, all of
which adopted inflation targets between 1990 and 1993. A striking feature of
the four arrangements is the similarity of the feedback procedures used by the
central banks of these nations. In all of them, money market conditions were
tightened or loosened when inflation forecasts for a year ahead lie outside the
target range, whose width is 2 percent. To address the question of whether the
performance of these countries has been successful, CPI inflation rates are
reported in Table (2). For comparison, average CPI inflation rates across
industrialized nations are reported in the final row.
As it is seen in Table (2) over the reported years prior to 1990, the
four countries all had inflation rates that were higher than the average. In
contrast, during 1992, 1993, and 1994, three of these countries experienced
less inflation than the average of industrial countries. Whether or not, this
outcome is a result of inflation targeting schemes per se; it would seem to be
the case that the monetary policy stance has altered in these four countries. Moreover,
as it is seen in the above-mentioned Table, the inflation rate has been lower
than the average of industrial countries from 1994 to 1999 in four countries, except
for the U.K. and for New Zealand in 1995, supporting the success of inflation
targeting strategy.
Table (3) reports the real GDP growth rates for the four inflation
targeting countries and the average value for the industrial countries. In
these figures, one can find that undesirable real effects were generated by the
adoption of anti-inflationary measures. However, there has been an encouraging
revival of growth since 1993, output growth rates above the industrial average
were recorded in Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. All in all, the
results suggest that the four inflation targeters have experienced higher
economic growth than the industrial average except for New Zealand in 1997 and
1998.
Table (3).
Real GDP Growth Rates in Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and the U.K.
Year |
Canada |
New
Zealand |
Sweden |
The
U.K. |
Industrial
countries |
1977-1986 |
3.1 |
1.6 |
1.7 |
2.1 |
2.7 |
1987 |
4.2 |
-1.7 |
3.1 |
4.8 |
3.2 |
1988 |
5.0 |
3.0 |
2.3 |
5.0 |
4.4 |
1989 |
2.4 |
-0.5 |
2.4 |
2.2 |
3.3 |
1990 |
-0.2 |
-0.1 |
1.4 |
0.4 |
2.4 |
1991 |
-1.8 |
-2.1 |
-1.1 |
-2.0 |
0.8 |
1992 |
0.6 |
-0.2 |
-1.9 |
-0.5 |
1.5 |
1993 |
2.2 |
4.1 |
-2.1 |
2.2 |
1.2 |
1994 |
4.5 |
4.8 |
2.2 |
3.8 |
3.0 |
1995 |
2.77 |
3.7 |
3.7 |
5.5 |
2.8 |
1996 |
1.7 |
3.0 |
1.0 |
5.9 |
3 |
1997 |
3.9 |
2.5 |
2.0 |
6.4 |
3.5 |
1998 |
3.5 |
-0.4 |
3.6 |
6.0 |
2.7 |
1999 |
15.8 |
4.1 |
4.5 |
4.9 |
3.4 |
2000 |
9.2 |
2.0 |
3.6 |
4.7 |
3.9 |
2001 |
3.9 |
4.3 |
1.2 |
4.5 |
1 |
2002 |
4.2 |
- |
3.6 |
5.6 |
1.8 |
Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, and IMF Outlook.
3. Inflation
Targeting in Iran
Before
implementing the First and Second Five Year Development Plan there is no record
of inflation targeting in Iran, however, during the first two plans (1989-1994
and 1996-2001) inflation targets have been set within the plans. Though there
are some similarities between inflation targeting in Iran and other countries,
the targets stand at much higher levels in Iran compared with other countries.
For instance, The Second Five Year Development Plan envisaged an inflation
target of 12%, and the Third Development Plan targeted an inflation rate of 15%.
Indeed, to
achieve the goals, monetary authorities need to implement all the monetary instruments
effectively. However, in Iran, due to the lack of central bank independence and
administrative, regulatory, monetary authorities have been being unable to use
money market operations, discount rate, and the reserve requirement effectively.
As a result, monetary authorities have not succeeded to achieve the goals,
undermining the credibility of the policies.
The
decomposition of the monetary base in Iran, since the revolution (1978), reveals
that the government debt to central bank has adversely affected the effectiveness
of monetary instruments. On the other hand, the monetary instruments have been
limited through the Islamic Banking Law approved in 1982. Indeed, under current
circumstances, the only means to control the money supply are through the reduction
of government debt to the central bank and also increasing the reserve
requirement ratio. The legal framework for controlling government debt has been
envisaged in the five-year development plans and the budget laws. Accordingly,
credit ceilings have been set with emphasize on the monetary authorities'
responsibilities to react against any increase in the money supply.
Though the
government deficit has been controlled according to the budget law and the plan,
the foreign exchange obligation account[4]
increased enormously during the past decade. The government used this account
to service its foreign debts with the official exchange rate, which has enlarged
the money supply, in turn. The major challenge that the government faces with
is the lack of fiscal discipline, which in turn, may lead to the failure of
inflation targeting as a framework for monetary policy. Indeed, the dominance
of the fiscal sector on the monetary authorities has undermined the
independence of the central bank, leaving small room for the success of
inflation targeting strategy.
As the credit ceilings
are determined for a financial year within the budget, they should be allocated
on a monthly basis and announced to the banks. In case, there is a violation
from the credit ceiling it should be adjusted within the next month. To achieve
this goal, the central bank needs to implement monetary instruments, forecast
the monetary aggregates, and find out the relationship between the general price
level and the allocated credits. In doing so, the central bank needs a monetary
model to evaluate the stance of monetary policy. Such a model will be presented
in the next section to forecast the inflation rate and to evaluate the trade-off
between inflation targeting and the real output.�
Most of the empirical
studies that have been carried out for Iran (Komijani and Bidabad 1999) suggest
that the supply side factors or cost-push inflation have lower effects on the
CPI inflation than demand-push factors. Indeed, according to the empirical studies,
99% of the changes in CPI, in the long run, can be explained by the money
supply. In other words, these studies suggest that inflation in Iran is a monetary
phenomenon. Therefore, the most appropriate way to control inflation is through
money supply. Moreover, the monetary transmission mechanism of the real sector
is trivial. Any change in the money supply has negligible effects on the
interest rate and investment due to administered interest rates. All in all,
one can argue that any decrease in the money supply will not affect the real sector
of the economy in the long-run.
Concerning the
monetary policy stance, it has historically been dominated by fiscal policy. Therefore,
inflation targeting will be a more appropriate instrument to conduct the
monetary policy with a consensus between the monetary authorities, government,
and the public. Indeed, the pragmatic argument for inflation targeting begins
with the proposition that, from a long-run point of view, monetary policy has a
dominating influence on an economy's inflation rate and negligible influence on
its rate of unemployment and output. This proposition, which is an
interpretation of the natural rate hypothesis, is supported by the empirical results,
as will be seen in the next section.
4. Monetary model:
The rationale for inflation targeting emerges as the joint consequences
of two lines of thoughts within the economics of monetary policy. First,
because the central bank in effect has only one instrument at its disposal, the
standard Tinbergen-Theil logic implies that it is possible to express the
policy chosen at any time in terms of the intended outcome of any single
economic magnitude that monetary policy affects: inflation, output, employment,
the economy's foreign balance.
The second line of thought within the field that underlies the concept of
inflation targeting is the Phelps-Friedman "natural rate" model of
aggregate supply in the market for goods and services. Under the most familiar
version of the natural rate model, there exists a trade-off between real
outcomes like output and employment and nominal outcomes like inflation and
prices. By contrast, in the long run, there is no evidence to support such a
trade-off; long-run real outcomes depend on such real factors as endowments,
technologies, and etc. In the long run, nominal magnitudes are subject to
monetary influences. Indeed, aggregate shocks that move output and inflation in
opposite directions create a trade-off between output and inflation
variability, forcing the central bankers to make a choice.
In this
section, we present a very simple monetary model according to the monetarists'
view. The following flow chart presents the relationship between the main
variables of the model. As it is seen, the liquidity is decomposed to the net
domestic assets and net foreign assets of the banking system. The net foreign
asset component is affected by the official exchange rate and the balance of
payments. The net domestic assets consist of three components: private sector
debt to the banking system, government debt to the banking system, and net of
other assets. The private sector debt to the banking system is affected by
gross domestic product (GDP). The government debt to the banking system is influenced
by the government budget deficit and foreign exchange obligations account. The
price level is defined as a function of liquidity. Change in GDP is affected by
the balance of payments. The estimated results are presented in the following
section, and the econometric model is estimated by OLS technique. The sample
period covers 1960-2001. To avoid integration problems, all level variables are
used in their first differences.
List of variables:-
M2NFAE=Net
foreign assets of the banking system (in billion dollars)
M2NGV=Net government
debt to the banking system (in billion Rials)
M2LPV=Net
Private sector debt to the banking system (in billion Rials)
M2NW=Other
assets of the banking system (in billion Rials)
OBD=Government
budget deficit (in billion Rials)
BOP=Balance of
payments (million dollars)
FEOA=Foreign
exchange obligation account (in billion Rials)
GDPV=Nominal
GDP (in billion Rials)
GDP=Gross
Domestic Production at fixed prices of 1982 (in billion Rials)
PGDP=GDP
deflator (base year=1982)
M2 = Liquidity
(in billion Rials)
E = Exchange
rate
D61 = Dummy
variable, one for 1982 and zero otherwise
D69 = Dummy
variable, one for 1990 and zero otherwise
D72 = Dummy
variable, one for 1993 and zero otherwise
D5873=Dummy
variable, one for 1994-95 and zero otherwise
D = Difference
operator
@Trend = Time
trend
The following
system of equations was estimated.
D(M2NFAE)
= C(11)*BOP/1000+C(12)*D72+C(13)*D69+C(14)*D60+c(15)*D7680
D(M2NGV)
= C(20)+ C(21)*OBD +C(22)*OL +D(FEOA) +C(23)*D79 +C(24)*D80
D(M2LPV)
= C(31)*D(GDPV)+C(32)*D80
D(M2NW)
=�
C(41)*D7780+C(42)*D79+C(43)*D80+C(44)*@TREND
D(PGDP)
= C(51)*D(M2) +C(52)*D80
D(GDP)
=C(60)+C(61)*BOP/1000+ C(62)*D(GDP(-1))+C(63)*D5659 +C(64)*D65 +C(65)*D55
M2
= M2NFAE * E + (M2NGV + M2LPV + M2NW)
GDPV
= GDP * PGDP
Flowchart
(1). Relationship between the main variables of the monetary model
Real GDP Nominal GDP Official
exchange rate Liquidity M2 Price level Balance of payments Net foreign
assets of banking system Net domestic
assets of banking system Changes in other
assets of the banking system Net other assets Net gov debt to
banking system Net private debt
to banking system Government
budget deficit Foreign exchange
obligation account Changes in previous
real GDP
======================================================
System:
SYS_INF������������������������������������������������������
Estimation
Method: Least Squares�������������������������������������
Sample: 1339
1380�����������������������������������������
�����������
Included
observations: 42��������������������������������������������
Total system
(unbalanced) observations 251���������������������������
======================================================
�����������������
��Coefficient ���Std. Error�
t-Statistic� Prob.�����������
======================================================
�����
C(11)��������� 0.914673�� 0.097201��
9.410124�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(12)�������� -21.40064�� 1.346235�
-15.89666�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(13)��������� 9.443943�� 1.346362��
7.014414�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(14)��������� 5.263224�� 1.367823��
3.847885�� 0.0002���������
�����
C(15)�������� -2.368778�� 0.621046�
-3.814173�� 0.0002���������
�����
C(20)�������� -274.1686�� 167.8247�
-1.633661�� 0.1037���������
�����
C(21)��������� 1.257852�� 0.055344��
22.72777�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(22)��������� 0.219124�� 0.027767��
7.891556�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(23)�������� -14060.40�� 975.8079�
-14.40899�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(24)��������� 11626.61�� 962.0447��
12.08531�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(31)��������� 0.309446�� 0.012301��
25.15634�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(32)��������� 33424.48�� 2846.179��
11.74363�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(41)��� �����-12933.99��
598.0382� -21.62736�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(42)��������� 29662.57�� 960.1021��
30.89523�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(43)��������� 4877.350�� 960.1694��
5.079677�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(44)�������� -15.28007�� 5.684013�
-2.688254�� 0.0077���������
�����
C(51)��������� 7.03E-06�� 2.96E-07��
23.79357�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(52)�������� -0.294803�� 0.032899�
-8.960742�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(60)��������� 6249.474�� 1531.646��
4.080234�� 0.0001���������
�����
C(61)��������� 1354.759 ��568.7077��
2.382171�� 0.0180���������
�����
C(62)��������� 0.368434�� 0.093348��
3.946897�� 0.0001���������
�����
C(63)�������� -23153.95�� 4256.940�
-5.439107�� 0.0000���������
�����
C(64)�������� -26557.75�� 8121.092�
-3.270219�� 0.0012���������
� ����C(65)��������� 23064.76�� 8199.437��
2.812969�� 0.0053���������
======================================================
Determinant
residual covariance 5.51E+22�����������������������������
======================================================
Equation:
D(M2NFAE) = C(11)*BOP/1000+C(12)*D72+C(13)*D69 +C(14)*D60+C(15)*D7680��������������������������������
Observations:
42�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.913271��� Mean dependent var 0.132592���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.903895��� S.D. dependent var 4.341973���������
S.E. of
regression�� 1.346047��� Sum squared resid� 67.03814���������
Durbin-Watson stat�� 2.147208����������������������������������������
Equation:
D(M2NGV) = C(20)+ C(21)*OBD +C(22)*OL+D(FEOA)+C(23) *D79+C(24)*D80����������������������������������������������
Observations:
42�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.971197��� Mean dependent var 2320.165���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.968084��� S.D. dependent var 5260.589���������
S.E. of
regression�� 939.8117��� Sum squared resid� 32680103���������
Durbin-Watson stat�� 2.238885����������������������������������������
Equation:
D(M2LPV) = C(31)*D(GDPV)+C(32)*D80�������������������������
Observations:
42�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.960945��� Mean dependent var 5773.873���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.959969��� S.D. dependent var 13071.46���������
S.E. of
regression�� 2615.321��� Sum squared resid� 2.74E+08���������
Durbin-Watson stat�� 1.049681����������������������������������������
Equation:
D(M2NW) =�
C(41)*D7780+C(42)*D79+C(43)*D80+C(44) *@TREND
Observations:
42�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.967070��� Mean dependent var-692.9867���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.964470��� S.D. dependent var 4158.716���������
S.E. of
regression�� 783.8891��� Sum squared resid� 23350323���������
Durbin-Watson stat�� 3.436861������������� ���������������������������
Equation:
D(PGDP) = C(51)*D(M2) +C(52)*D80���������������������������
Observations:
42�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.923764��� Mean dependent var 0.047743���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.921858��� S.D. dependent var 0.089887���������
S.E. of
regression�� 0.025127��� Sum squared resid� 0.025254���������
Durbin-Watson stat�� 2.826425����������������������������������������
Equation: D(GDP)=C(60)+C(61)*BOP/1000+C(62)*D(GDP(-1))+C(63)
*D5659+C(64)*D65 +C(65)*D55
Observations:
41�����������������������������������������������������
R-squared����������� 0.706315��� Mean dependent var 6893.122���������
Adjusted
R-squared�� 0.664359��� S.D. dependent var 13732.14������� ��
S.E. of
regression�� 7955.646��� Sum squared resid 2.22E+09���������
Durbin-Watson
stat�� 1.521260����������������������������������������
======================================================
Graph 1 Plot of residuals of estimated equations
As it is seen
in the estimated results, the net foreign assets of the banking system has a
positive significant relationship with the balance of payments. The coefficient
on C(21) is positive and significant, supporting a positive link between the
government budget deficit and the government debt to the banking system. The
coefficient on C(22) is also positive and significant, representing a
relationship between the obligation loans and the government debt to the
banking system. Interestingly enough, foreign exchange obligation account has a
one to one relationship with the net government debt to the banking system.
Equation (5)
suggests that nominal GDP is positively and significantly related to the
liquidity, supporting the monetarists' view. In other words, any change in the
money supply will affect the nominal GDP. In addition, net private sector debt
to the banking system is positively and significantly correlated with nominal
GDP. Equation (6) suggests that real GDP at fixed prices is positively and
significantly related to the BOP.
To evaluate
the performance of the model, we solved the whole system for the whole ex-post
sample period through dynamic simulation. Graph 2 plots the actual value of the
endogenous variables versus their simulated values. The 8 plots of Graph 1 show
the high dynamic response and credibility of the model to build simulated
series as near as the actual series with a concordance of turning points.
Graph 2 Simulated versus actual values of the
endogenous variables in the dynamic solution
Graph 2 (Cont.) Simulated versus actual values of the endogenous
variables in the dynamic solution
5. Conclusion
As the
estimated results in the previous section suggest, inflation targeting in Iran does
not affect the real output in the long run. Indeed, monetary transmission
policy affects the general price level, leaving trivial effects on the real output.
Therefore, one can argue that there is no trade-off between inflation targeting
and the real output, supporting the notion of the natural rate hypothesis.
One of the
main findings of this study is that major problem in achieving inflation
targets in the Iranian economy is the lack of transparency and credibility of
the target due to fiscal situation, institutional set up for the monetary
policy, and ineffectiveness of monetary instruments. Indeed, as the experiences
of other countries suggest fiscal discipline has a crucial role in the success
of inflation targeting.
Moreover, the inflation
target lacks credibility in Iran, in the sense that inflation expectations
exceed the target range. Reduction of the real budget deficit through reducing
the foreign exchange obligation account might restore the credibility of the
government and monetary authorities. ��
Imperfect
credibility has several detrimental consequences. First, imperfect credibility
makes it more costly and more difficult to achieve the target. Monetary policy
has to be more contractionary to counter the inflationary impulses that
inflation expectation causes.
Second,
imperfect credibility most likely allows less scope for short-run stabilization
of unemployment. Any attempt to temporarily pursue a more expansionary policy in
order to reduce temporarily high unemployment will probably be interpreted as
increased tolerance towards medium and long-run inflation, and hence induce a
further fall in already low credibility, with increased inflation expectations
and increased medium and long-term interest rates, as a result. The increased
inflation expectation is also likely to result in faster nominal wage and price
adjustment, which reduces the real effect of a given monetary expansion.
Indeed, the
government and the parliament in their attempts to expand the credibility of
the system should reduce their incentives to create inflation by strengthening
price stability as a goal for monetary policy. In doing so, the government and the
parliament can achieve fiscal consolidation by eliminating partial de-indexing
of expenditures and taxes. The most crucial challenge that the central bank should
overcome is to remedy the credibility problem through pursuing a monetary
policy that fulfills the inflation targets. The central bank can increase its
commitment by a policy statement that clarifies that inflation targets will be strictly
in effect for the whole third plan.� �
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for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights
granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the
terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
[1] (B.A., M.Sc., Ph.D., Post-Doc.)
Research Professor of Economics, Monetary and Banking Research Academy,����� [email protected]����
[email protected]������� http://www.bidabad.com .
[2] Nahid Kalbasi Anaraki, Faculty Member, Monetary and
Banking Research Academy, E-mail: [email protected]
[3] -Cecchetti S.
And M. Ehrmann "Does inflation targeting increase output volatility? An
international comparison of policy makers' preferences and outcomes", NBER
working paper 7426, Dec 1999.
[4] Foreign exchange obligation account was established in
1993 to compensate the importers for the difference of the unified exchange
rate with the nominal exchange rate.