Contested Syrian oil will have limited economic impact

Significance This depreciation reflects the underlying weakness of the government’s financial position. Political and territorial advances in favour of President Bashar al-Assad -- most recently, the deployment of government forces along the Turkish border to the east of the river Euphrates -- have not yielded clear economic benefits. Impacts Sustained political and economic turbulence in Lebanon could further reduce the supply of US currency for the Syrian market. The US presence will complicate the government's reassertion of control over oil fields, but Russia could help resolve this problem. Pressure on business to support the exchange rate, with the threat of 'anti-corruption' investigations, could sap private sector confidence. US sanctions and crises in Lebanon and Iraq will reduce Iran’s ability to contribute to the Syrian economy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bisharat Hussain Chang ◽  
Suresh Kumar Oad Rajput ◽  
Niaz Ahmed Bhutto ◽  
Zahida Abro

Purpose Recent literature has shifted to examining whether exchange rate volatility symmetrically or asymmetrically affects the trade flows. This study aims to extend the existing literature by examining the effects of extremely large to extremely small changes in exchange rate volatility series on the US imports from Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Design/methodology/approach For examining the effects of extreme changes, multiple threshold nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (MTNARDL) model is used and the exchange rate volatility series is divided into quintiles and deciles. It helps to examine the effects of each quintile/decile of exchange rate volatility series on the US imports. Findings Findings indicate that the effects of extremely large changes in the exchange rate volatility series significantly differ from the effects of extremely small changes in the exchange rate volatility series on the US imports. Practical implications The findings of this study are very important. These findings help to consider the effect of extreme changes before devising policies related to trade flows. Originality/value This study mainly focuses on US imports from Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. In addition, this study extends the existing literature by using a novel methodology called MTNARDL model.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1242-1271
Author(s):  
Wei Sun ◽  
Gil Kim

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of exchange rate shock on the broad spectrum of the US economy using a factor-augmented VAR model (FAVAR). Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a two-factor FAVAR model and estimated it with the single-step Bayesian likelihood approach using the Gibbs sampling technique. The two factors represented, respectively, the economic activity and price pressures. The exchange rate shock was identified with the Choleski decomposition method for VARs. The authors used the data of 117 time series for the period from 1973:02 to 2007:12. Impulse responses and variance decompositions were computed as the main results. Findings The authors found that exchange rate shock has pervasive effects on the US economy as the following: depreciation does not appear to help reduce the US trade deficit as both import and export rise with the depreciation shock; in the short run, depreciation appears expansionary as industrial production, manufacturing and employment all increase within a year; in the medium run, depreciation appears inflationary, as consumer price, producer price, import price and export price all increase; and in the medium run, depreciation appears contractionary as personal consumption, consumer confidence, stock price and housing start tend to fall. Research limitations/implications Some caveats remain: first, our simple model symmetrically estimates depreciation shock and appreciation shock and, hence, cannot draw inferences for how exchange rate appreciation and depreciation may affect the US economy asymmetrically. Second, the simple model used did not distinguish the different possible sources of exchange rate depreciation shock, the knowledge of which may lead to richer policy implications and is the direction of research for the future. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature of whether exchange rate is expansionary or contractionary to the US economy using the FAVAR model. This is the first comprehensive study in the literature studying the pervasive effects of the exchange rate on the broad spectrum of the US economy in one integrated model.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-380
Author(s):  
Abdul Rashid ◽  
Farooq Ahmad ◽  
Ammara Yasmin

Purpose This paper aims to empirically examine the long- and short-run relationship between macroeconomic indicators (exchange rates, interest rates, exports, imports, foreign reserves and the rate of inflation) and sovereign credit default swap (SCDS) spreads for Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to explore the level relationship between the macroeconomic variables and SCDS spreads. The error correction model is estimated to examine the short-run effects of the underlying macroeconomic variables on SCDS spreads. Finally, the long-run estimates are obtained in the ARDL framework. The study uses monthly data covering the period January 2001-February 2015. Findings The results indicate that there is a significant long-run relationship between the macroeconomic indicators and SCDS spreads. The estimated long-run coefficients reveal that both the interest rate and foreign exchange reserves are significantly and negatively, whereas imports and the rate of inflation are positively related to SCDS spreads. Yet, the results suggest that the exchange rate and exports do not have any significant long-run impact on SCDS spreads. The findings regarding the short-run relationship indicate that the exchange rate, imports and the rate of inflation are positively, whereas the interest rate and exports are negatively related to SCDS spreads. Practical implications The results suggest that State Bank of Pakistan should design monetary and foreign exchange rate polices to minimize unwanted variations in the exchange rate to reduce SCDS spreads. The results also suggest that it is incumbent to Pakistan Government to improve the balance of payments to reduce SCDS spreads. The findings also suggest that the inflation targeting policy can also help in reducing SCDS spreads. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the empirical determinants of SCDS spreads for Pakistan. Second, it estimates the short- and long-run effects in the ARDL framework. Third, it considers both internal and external empirical determinants of SCDS spreads.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pribawa E Pantas ◽  
Muhamad Nafik Hadi Ryandono ◽  
Misbahul Munir ◽  
Rofiul Wahyudi

This study aims to determine the long-term relationship between stock market and exchange rate in Indonesia. The research method used is Johansen cointegration test. The results of this study found no cointegration between the variables tested. Thus the exchange rate, JII, and IHSG have no relationship in the long term. The fluctuation of the rupiah exchange rate in recent years did not generally affect the performance of stock indices especially after the global financial crisis of 2008. This shows the capital market in Indonesia has a good performance so that it is not so sensitive to the sentiment of the decline in the rupiah against the US dollar. This finding is in line with the findings of Syahrer (2010) which states the exchange rate has no effect on the stock market.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omneia Helmy ◽  
Mona Fayed ◽  
Kholoud Hussien

Purpose The theoretical and empirical literature stipulated that exchange rate shocks do influence the domestic price of imports. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the underlying relationship between the exchange rate and prices known as the exchange rate pass-through. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a structural vector auto-regression (SVAR) model, drawing on Bernanke (1986) and Sims (1986), to empirically examine and analyze the pass-through of exchange rate fluctuations to domestic prices in Egypt. Findings The empirical results of the monthly data between 2003 and 2015 revealed that the exchange rate pass-through in Egypt is fairly substantial but incomplete and slow in the three price indices [IMP, producer price index and consumer price index (CPI)]. However, the impact is more prominent for consumer prices than for any other price index. This finding could be attributed to the fact that the CPI in Egypt is composed of a relatively large number of subsidized commodities and goods with administered prices as well as the authorities’ behavior in manipulating prices (i.e. export ban). This is expected to weaken the transmission of exchange rate shocks. Practical implications The result has interesting implications for Egypt’s ability to attain an effective inflation targeting regime. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by assessing the effect of changes in the exchange rate (the Egyptian £ vis-à-vis the US$) on prices using an updated time series from 2003 to 2015. It addresses the limitations of the study of Nafie et al. (2004), which found no strong relationship between the exchange rate and inflation rate in the Egyptian context. One of these limitations was using the CPI, as the only price index.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Aftab ◽  
Amir Rafique ◽  
Evan Lau

Purpose The sticky-price monetary model of exchange rate states the overshooting hypothesis as, exchange rate depreciation beyond its long-term value in response to an increase in money supply owing to the sticky nature of prices. Because of interest and relevance to policy, there is a huge extant literature on it but with mixed findings that suggest the need for further studies to refine the findings. Pakistan’s rupee exchange rate against the US dollar depreciated 128.44% over the period May 2007–December 2018. Considering this substantial decline in rupee's value, this study aims to examine either the rupee short-run value is over-shot of its long-term value. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a linear ARDL approach that segregates the short-run and long-run effects thus clarifying the premise of exchange rate overshooting. Furthermore, this study also uses nonlinear ARDL as a robustness check incorporating structural breaks. Findings Findings based on a linear model show evidence of exchange rate undershooting that means a positive money shock causes the exchange rate to appreciate. A nonlinear analysis also provides support to these findings. However, the increase in relative money supply has more such effect than that of a decrease in the relative money supply. Moreover, the authorities’ inclination to stabilize the exchange rate appreciates its short-run value. Originality/value This study substantiates the overshooting hypothesis literature by considering the role of asymmetric effects of exchange rate determinants and structural breaks that is a rare attempt in the extant literature.


Author(s):  
Sonia Kumari ◽  
Suresh Kumar Oad Rajput ◽  
Rana Yassir Hussain ◽  
Jahanzeb Marwat ◽  
Haroon Hussain

This study investigates the affiliation of various proxies of economic sentiments and the US Dollar exchange rate, mainly focusing on the real effective exchange rate of USD pairing with three other major currencies (USDEUR, USDGBP, and USDCAD). The study has employed Google Trends data of economy optimistic and pessimistic sentiments index and survey-based economy sentiments data on monthly basis from January 2004 to December 2018. The study engaged Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation techniques to evaluate the short-run and long-run effects of economy-related sentiments and macroeconomic variables on the exchange rate. The results from the study found that Economy Optimistic Sentiments Index (EOSI) and Economy Pessimistic Sentiments Index (EPSI) appreciate and depreciate the US Dollar exchange rate in the short-run, respectively. Our sentiment measures are robust to survey-based Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MSCI), Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), and various macroeconomic factors. The MSCI and CCI sentiments show a long-term impact on the foreign exchange market. This study implies that economic sentiments play a vital role in the foreign exchange market and it is essential to consider behavioral aspects when modeling the exchange rate movements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huthaifa Alqaralleh

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the nonlinear dynamics in the effects of oil price shocks on the exchange rate for a sample from the Group of Twenty (G20) over the period 1994:1-2019:1. Design/methodology/approach Using monthly time series data covering the period1994:1-2019:1, the author first use the non-parametric triples test of Randles et al. (1980) to ascertain the existence of asymmetric properties in the sample of exchange rates. Then the author used the nonlinear ARDL cointegration approach developed by Shin et al. (2014) to examine the reaction of these exchange rates to the oil price shocks. Findings This study has identified significant evidence that the exchange rate is asymmetrically distributed, with the effect that high appreciation of the exchange rate is followed by slower depreciation. The NARDL results support such asymmetry even more strongly because in the test the exchange rate is shown to react differently in the long term to positive and negative shocks in oil prices. Another major finding was that the speed of adjustment differed over the sample, as the cumulative dynamic multipliers effect highlighted. Research limitations/implications This change in direction and the employment of non-linear technique can be to obtain better insight into the model specification, which the author believes, will not only enhance the findings in the literature but also enhance forecasting and decision-making. Practical implications A practical implication of this change is the possibility that policymakers and participants concerned with exchange rate stability should intervene in the market to alleviate the unfavourable impact of oil price shocks on the exchange rate. Originality/value Addressing this nonlinear dynamic in the effects of oil price shocks on the exchange rate have at least the following two important reasons: asymmetry and regime change are types of nonlinearities that affect the market dynamics, especially, over marked sample period with such financial crises as the global financial crises of 2007, thereby violating the linear models. Adopting an asymmetric cointegration technique permits to incorporate cointegrated positive and negative components of the considered series.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Koutsoupakis

PurposeWhile monetary autonomy is self-explanatory for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin with predetermined supply path, it is of great interest to probe into the monetary structures of Stablecoins. In these supply contracts and expands and capital restrictions apply due to the existence of reserves as the exchange rate arrangement adheres to a price rule.Design/methodology/approachEver since the launch of Bitcoin and its offspring, examination of cryptocurrencies' trading activity from the empirical finance viewpoint has received much attention and continues to do so. The particular monetary arrangements found in Stable cryptocurrencies (colloquially referred to as Stablecoins), however, have not been properly (1) classified and (2) studied within an empirical international finance and banking context. This paper provides an empirical framework analogous to Impossible Trinity for exploring monetary arrangements across Stablecoins wherein reserves are held as price stability is targeted.FindingsThe study findings of existence of the degree of achievement along the three dimensions of the Impossible Trinity hypothesis, namely monetary independence, exchange rate stability and financial openness for a representative sample able to cover all varieties of Stablecoins, provide fresh empirical insights and arguments to this growing literature with respect to the success of their embedded exchange rate stabilization mechanisms. While the hypothesis can be supported for all cryptocurrencies in question, the trade-off combination among exchange rate stability, capital openness and monetary independence varies with the categorical types of Stablecoins.Research limitations/implicationsIf Stable cryptocurrencies, therefore, claim the role of global monetary assets freed from sovereign limits and national boundaries, it is critical to explore whether they adhere to traditional monetary frameworks. It goes without saying that in this work the author does not use a complete catalogue of all the available Stablecoins, rather a complete catalogue of all the possible asset classes of Stablecoins. While there is a significant difficulty in finding Algorithmic Stablecoins and, so far, there is plethora of Stable Token initiatives, a broader sample to further examine these under this paper's empirical framework is suggested. Enrichment of the robustness analysis by constructing additional proxies, possibly building time series for the proposed cmo1 subindex and using additional estimation methods is encouraged.Practical implicationsStablecoins have been developed aiming to address the issue of excessive price variation in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Holders of Stablecoins enjoy the combined advantages of using a blockchain-based digital infrastructure in fulfilling the functions of store of value and media of exchange and of using a traditional currency, which merely plays the role of the unit of account (and in some circumstances the trusted reserve to which is convertible to). Understanding the varieties of Stablecoins and quantifying the components for success of their price stabilization may result in designing better Stablecoins.Social implicationsBlockchain and cryptocurrencies have introduced new challenges to money and banking. Cryptocurrencies, which independently float such as Bitcoin, have gained the interest so far due to price variation that allows for gains. But these should be by far not considered to be a substitute to traditional means of payment. Lately, Stablecoins have increasingly gained attention for that USD Tether/Bitcoin pair (a Stablecoin pegged to the US dollar at parity) has outrun the US dollar/Bitcoin pair as the most traded pair in digital exchanges marking the strong position and high demand for Stablecoins.Originality/valueThis approach uncovers the varieties of Stablecoins with respect to their monetary constraints compared to the rest of the cryptocurrencies, which independently float. In this paper, the author provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of the exchange rate mechanisms conditional on Stablecoin asset classes accompanied with an empirical study from the monetary viewpoint. This is the first work in this attempt. The empirical framework employed is analogous to the traditional theory of international monetary economics referred to as Impossible Trinityz.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/JES-06-2020-0279


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-237
Author(s):  
Van Anh Pham

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and analyze impacts of the monetary policy (MP) – money aggregate and interest rate – on the exchange rate in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data over the period of 2008–2018 and applies the vector autoregression model, namely recursive restriction and sign restriction approaches. Findings The main empirical findings are as follows: a contraction of the money aggregate significantly leads to the real effective exchange rate (REER) depreciating and then appreciating; a tightening of the interest rate immediately causes the REER appreciating and then depreciating; and both the money aggregate and the interest rate strongly determine fluctuations of the REER. Originality/value The quantitative results imply that the MP affects the REER considerably.


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