The Quest for Price Stability in Central America and the Dominican Republic* /

This paper addresses the question of why inflation has not yet converged to price stability in Central America and the Dominican Republic and is currently relatively high by Latin American standards. It suggests that despite the institutional strengthening of monetary policy, important flaws remain...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Parrado, Eric
Otros Autores: Jacome, Luis
Formato: Revista
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2007.
Colección:IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2007/054
Acceso en línea:Full text available on IMF
Descripción
Sumario:This paper addresses the question of why inflation has not yet converged to price stability in Central America and the Dominican Republic and is currently relatively high by Latin American standards. It suggests that despite the institutional strengthening of monetary policy, important flaws remain in most central banks, in particular a lack of a clear policy mandate and little political autonomy, which are adversely affecting the consistency of policy implementation. Empirical analysis reveals that all central banks raise interest rates to curtail inflation but only some of them increase it sufficiently to effectively tackle inflation pressures. It also shows that some central banks care simultaneously about exchange rate stability. The potential policy conflict arising from a dual central bank mandate and the unpredictable policy response is probably undermining markets' confidence in central banks' commitment to price stability, thereby perpetuating an inflation bias.
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Descripción Física:1 online resource (34 pages)
Formato:Mode of access: Internet
ISSN:1018-5941
Acceso:Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students