The Short-Run Macroeconomics of Aid Inflows

The Short-Run Macroeconomics of Aid Inflows PDF Author: Tokhir Mirzoev
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451982097
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
We develop a tractable open-economy new-Keynesian model with two sectors to analyze the short-term effects of aid-financed fiscal expansions. We distinguish between spending the aid, which is under the control of the fiscal authorities, and absorbing the aid-using the aid to finance a higher current account deficit-which is influenced by the central bank's reserves policy when access to international capital markets is limited. The standard treatment of the transfer problem implicitly assumes spending equals absorption. Here, in contrast, a policy mix that results in spending but not absorbing the aid generates demand pressures and results in an increase in real interest rates. It can also lead to a temporary real depreciation if demand pressures are strong enough to threaten external balance. Certain features of low income countries, such as limited participation in domestic financial markets, make a real depreciation more likely by amplifying demand pressures when aid is spent but not absorbed. The results from our model can help understand the recent experience of Uganda, which saw an increase in government spending following a surge in aid yet experienced a real depreciation and an increase in real interest rates.

The Short-Run Macroeconomics of Aid Inflows

The Short-Run Macroeconomics of Aid Inflows PDF Author: Tokhir Mirzoev
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451982097
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
We develop a tractable open-economy new-Keynesian model with two sectors to analyze the short-term effects of aid-financed fiscal expansions. We distinguish between spending the aid, which is under the control of the fiscal authorities, and absorbing the aid-using the aid to finance a higher current account deficit-which is influenced by the central bank's reserves policy when access to international capital markets is limited. The standard treatment of the transfer problem implicitly assumes spending equals absorption. Here, in contrast, a policy mix that results in spending but not absorbing the aid generates demand pressures and results in an increase in real interest rates. It can also lead to a temporary real depreciation if demand pressures are strong enough to threaten external balance. Certain features of low income countries, such as limited participation in domestic financial markets, make a real depreciation more likely by amplifying demand pressures when aid is spent but not absorbed. The results from our model can help understand the recent experience of Uganda, which saw an increase in government spending following a surge in aid yet experienced a real depreciation and an increase in real interest rates.

The Short-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Foreign Aid to Small States

The Short-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Foreign Aid to Small States PDF Author: Derek Headey
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description


The Macroeconomics of Medium-Term Aid Scaling-Up Scenarios

The Macroeconomics of Medium-Term Aid Scaling-Up Scenarios PDF Author: Jan Gottschalk
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 145520143X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
We develop a model to analyze the macroeconomic effects of a scaling-up of aid and assess the implications of different policy responses. The model features key structural characteristics of low-income countries, including varying degrees of public investment efficiency and a learning-by-doing (LBD) externality that captures Dutch disease effects. On the policy front, it distinguishes between spending the aid, which is controlled by the fiscal authority, and absorbing the aid - financing a higher current account deficit - which is influenced by the central bank's reserve accumulation policies. We calibrate the model to Uganda and run several experiments. We find that a policy mix that results in full spending and absorption of aid can generate temporary demand and real exchange rate appreciation pressures, but also have a positive effect on real GDP in the medium term, through higher public capital. Full spending with partial absorption, on the other hand, may stem appreciation pressures but can also induce adverse medium-term real GDP effects, through private sector crowding out. When aid is very inefficiently invested and there are strong LBD externalities, aid can be harmful, and partial absorption policies may be justified. But in this case, a welfare improving solution is to defer spending or - even better if possible - raise its efficiency.

The Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows - Experiences of Low-Income Countries and Policy Implications

The Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows - Experiences of Low-Income Countries and Policy Implications PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498331254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 67

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Book Description
Investigates the macroeconomic challenges for low-income countries created by a surge in aid inflows. It develops an analytical framework for examining possible policy responses to increased aid, and then applies this framework to the experience of five relatively well-governed countries that experienced a recent surge in aid inflows: Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. Each country’s policies were supported by a PRGF arrangement during most of the period under review.

Optimal Fiscal Spending and Reserve Accumulation Policies under Volatile Aid

Optimal Fiscal Spending and Reserve Accumulation Policies under Volatile Aid PDF Author: Ioana Moldovan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 149831211X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
This paper assesses the optimal setting of fiscal spending and foreign exchange rate intervention policies in response to volatile foreign aid, in a small open economy model that incorporates typical features of low-income countries. Within a class of policy rules, it jointly considers the optimal aid spending and international reserve accumulation policies. The results show that it is optimal to adjust government spending gradually in response to unpredictable fluctuations in aid, while partially accumulating foreign exchange reserves to offset Dutch disease effects. Also, allocating relatively more of the government spending to productive public investment, and less to government consumption, is welfare improving.

The Macroeconomic Management of Foreign Aid

The Macroeconomic Management of Foreign Aid PDF Author: Mr.Peter Isard
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Since the adoption of the Milennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, the challenge of reducing poverty around the world has been more prominent on the agenda of the international community. Relatively slow progress toward meeting the MDGs by the 2015 target date has added to the urgency of this effort. Two influential reports - The United Nations Millennium Project Report (the "Sachs Report") and the Commission for Africa Report (the "Blair Report") envisage substantial increases in aid flows to poor countries, especially to countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The International community sees increases in aid, along with improvements in recipient policies and freer global trade, as necessary for global prosperity and poverty reduction.

Managing Reductions in Aid Inflows: Assessing Policy Choices in Haiti

Managing Reductions in Aid Inflows: Assessing Policy Choices in Haiti PDF Author: Ioana Moldovan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484370325
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
A low-income country such as Haiti that confronts an environment of diminishing aid inflows must assess tradeoffs among the available policy options: spending cuts, monetization, sales of debt, or use of foreign reserves. To provide the analytical tools for this task, the paper draws from a set of DSGE models recently developed to evaluate policy choices in low-income countries for which external aid flows represent an important revenue source. Two simplified stylized variations of the main model are used to gain intuition and initially assess the trdeaoffs. Subsequenctly a full-scale small open economy DSGE model, calibrated to match conditions in Haiti and in similar low-income countries, is employed. Several key results are common to all model versions. While sales of foreign exchange reserves can compensate for the loss of aid inflows, this strategy is not sustainable. The remaining policy choices entail larger welfare costs, involving lower consumption levels and real depreciation. The results suggest that a mixture of spending cuts and depreciation is the best strategy, when use of foreign reserves is constrained.

Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Andrew Berg
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019878581X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
Low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa present unique monetary policy challenges, from the high share of volatile food in consumption to underdeveloped financial markets; however most academic and policy work on monetary policy is aimed at much richer countries. Can economic models and methods invented for rich countries even be adapted and applied here? How does and should monetary policy work in sub-Saharan African? Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa answers these questions and provides practical tools and policy guidance to respond to the complex challenges of this region. Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made great progress in stabilizing inflation over the past two decades. As they have achieved a degree of basic macroeconomic stability, policymakers are looking to avoid policy misalignments and respond appropriately to shocks in order to achieve stability and growth. Officially, they often have adopted "money targeting" frameworks, a regime that has long disappeared from almost all advanced and even emerging-market discussions. In practice, though, they are in many cases finding current regimes lacking, with opaque and sometimes inconsistent objectives, inadequate transmission of policy to the economy, and difficulties in responding to supply shocks. Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa takes a new approach by applying dynamic general equilibrium models suitably adapted to reflect key features of low-income countries for the analysis of monetary policy in sub-Saharan African countries. Using a progressive approach derived from the International Monetary Fund's extensive practice and research, Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa seeks to address what we know about the empirics of monetary transmission in low-income countries, how monetary policy can work in countries characterized by underdeveloped financial markets and opaque policy regimes, and how we can use empirical and theoretical methods largely derived in advanced countries to answer these questions. It then uses these key topics to guide policymakers as they attempt to adjust food price, terms of trade, aid shocks, and the effects of the global financial crisis.

Policy Responses to Aid Surges in Countries with Limited International Capital Mobility

Policy Responses to Aid Surges in Countries with Limited International Capital Mobility PDF Author: Mr.Andrew Berg
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484397002
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
We study the role of the exchange rate regime, reserve accumulation, and sterilization policies in the macroeconomics of aid surges. Absent sterilization, a peg allows for almost full aid absorption — an increase in the current account deficit net of aid—delivering the same effects as those of a flexible regime but with a necessary increase in inflation. Regardless of the regime, policies that limit absorption—and result in large accumulation of reserves—are welfare reducing: they help reduce the real appreciation (and inflation under the peg), but at the expense of reducing private consumption and investment, and therefore medium-term growth.

Optimal Fiscal Spending and Reserve Accumulation Policies under Volatile Aid

Optimal Fiscal Spending and Reserve Accumulation Policies under Volatile Aid PDF Author: Ioana Moldovan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 149832018X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
This paper assesses the optimal setting of fiscal spending and foreign exchange rate intervention policies in response to volatile foreign aid, in a small open economy model that incorporates typical features of low-income countries. Within a class of policy rules, it jointly considers the optimal aid spending and international reserve accumulation policies. The results show that it is optimal to adjust government spending gradually in response to unpredictable fluctuations in aid, while partially accumulating foreign exchange reserves to offset Dutch disease effects. Also, allocating relatively more of the government spending to productive public investment, and less to government consumption, is welfare improving.