Negative interest rates in the eurozone

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenica Tropeano

This paper reviews the eurozone's negative rate deposit facility and seeks to explain its rationale. The paper rejects the conventional explanation that the negative rate deposit facility improves the transmission mechanism of monetary policy and contributes to the economic recovery of the area. Instead, the paper argues that the rationale for the policy is to be found in the interbank market. The European unsecured interbank market has malfunctioned since the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2007. The negative policy rate is an extreme attempt to revive that market, but that attempt has failed. Rather than being a conventional policy, as some scholars have argued, the paper maintains that the policy is deeply unconventional because it does not target the overnight interest rate as the interbank market has effectively become irrelevant.

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna A. Pestova ◽  
Natalia A. Rostova

Is the Bank of Russia able to control inflation and, at the same time, manage aggregate demand using its interest rate instruments? In other words, are empirical estimates of the effects of monetary policy in Russia consistent with the theoretical concepts and experience of advanced economies? This paper is aimed at addressing these issues. Unlike previous research, we employ “big data” — a large dataset of macroeconomic and financial data — to estimate the effects of monetary policy in Russia. We focus exclusively on the period after the 2008—2009 global financial crisis when the Bank of Russia announced the abandoning of its fixed ruble exchange rate regime and started to gradually transit to an interest rate management. Our estimation results do not confirm standard responses of key economic activity and price variables to tightening of monetary policy. Specifically, our estimates do not reveal a statistically significant restraining effect of the Bank of Russia’s policy of high interest rates on inflation in recent years. At the same time, we find a significant deteriorating effect of the monetary tightening on economic activity indicators: according to our conservative estimates, each of the key rate increases occurred in March and December 2014 had led to a decrease in the industrial production index by about 0.2 percentage points within a year.


Author(s):  
Yilmaz Akyüz

The preceding chapters have examined the deepened integration of emerging and developing economies (EDEs) into the international financial system in the new millennium and their changing vulnerabilities to external financial shocks. They have discussed the role that policies in advanced economies played in this process, including those that culminated in the global financial crisis and the unconventional monetary policy of zero-bound interest rates and quantitative easing adopted in response to the crisis, as well as policies in EDEs themselves....


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-135
Author(s):  
Olga Kuznetsova ◽  
Sergey Merzlyakov ◽  
Sergey Pekarski

The global financial crisis of 2007–2009 has changed the landscape for monetary policy. Many central banks in developed economies had to employ various unconventional policy tools to overcome a liquidity trap. These included large-scale asset purchase programs, forward guidance and negative interest rate policies. While recently, some central banks were able to return to conventional monetary policy, for many countries the effectiveness of unconventional policies remains an issue. In this paper we assess diverse practices of unconventional monetary policy with a particular focus on expectations and time consistency. The principal aspect of successful policy in terms of overcoming a liquidity trap is the confidence that interest rates will remain low for a prolonged period. However, forming such expectations faces the problem of time inconsistency of optimal policy. We discuss some directions to solve this problem.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-46
Author(s):  
Andrea Cecrdlova

The latest global crisis, which fully erupted in 2008, can have a significant impact on central banks credibility in the long run. During the last crisis, monetary authorities encountered zero interest rate levels and, as a result, started to use non-standard monetary policy instruments. The Czech National Bank decided to use a less standard instrument in November 2013, when it started to intervene on the foreign exchange market in order to keep the Czech currency at level 27 CZK / EUR. However, the European Central Bank also adopted a non-standard instrument, when chose a path of quantitative easing in 2015 in order to support the euro area economy by purchasing financial assets. The question remains whether the approach of Czech National Bank or the approach of European Central Bank in the crisis and post-crisis period was a more appropriate alternative. With the passage of time from the global financial crisis, it is already possible to compare the approaches of these two central banks and at least partially assess what approach was more appropriate under the given conditions. When comparing the central banks approaches to the crisis, the Czech National Bank was better, both in terms of the rate of interest rate cuts and the resulting inflation with regard to the choice of a non-standard monetary policy instrument. The recent financial crisis has revealed the application of moral hazard in practice, both on behalf of the European Central Bank and the Czech National Bank, which may have a significant impact on their credibility and independence in the coming years.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Rodríguez ◽  
Carlos Carrasco

The paper analyses the monetary policy responses of the European Central Bank (ECB) to the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. Our goals are on the one hand to explain chronologically the main measures in conventional and unconventional policies adopted by the ECB and on the other hand to analyse their effects on key interest rates, monetary aggregates and the money multiplier. The assessment is that the ECB?s monetary policy responses to the crisis have been ?too little, too late?, constrained by the institutional framework, which prevents the ECB from acting as a true central bank with the role of lender of last resort.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (342) ◽  
pp. 89-116
Author(s):  
Irena Pyka ◽  
Aleksandra Nocoń

In the face of the global financial crisis, central banks have used unconventional monetary policy instruments. Firstly, they implemented the interest rate policy, lowering base interest rates to a very low (almost zero) level. However, in the following years they did not undertake normalizing activities. The macroeconomic environment required further initiatives. For the first time in history, central banks have adopted Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP). The main aim of the study is to explore the risk accompanying the negative interest rate policy, aiming at identifying channels and consequences of its impact on the economy. The study verifies the research hypothesis stating that the risk of negative interest rates, so far unrecognized in Theory of Interest Rate, is a consequence of low effectiveness of monetary policy normalization and may adopt systemic nature, by influencing – through different channels – the financial stability and growth dynamics of the modern world economy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (189) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Djordje Djukic ◽  
Malisa Djukic

Despite the anti-crisis measures in the US and the euro area that were the policy response to the global financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, the stress on the interbank money market was still present in 2009 and 2010. The increasing inflationary pressures will require an increase in the ECB key interest rate in the second half of 2011. The over indebted euro area countries will have to raise funds by issuing and selling bonds with high yields. Taking into account such an environment, in this paper we analyze the relevant interbank money market stress indicators during 2010 and the beginning of 2011, in order to estimate the effects of money markets interest rate movements on credit market interest rates, primarily in the euro area, during the post-crisis period.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radoje Žugić ◽  
Nikola Fabris

Abstract The global financial crisis has challenged the traditional monetary policy framework of one instrument (short-term interest rates) - one objective (price stability). More and more central banks nowadays consider financial stability as a monetary policy objective, whereas the Central Bank of Montenegro is the only one that has identified financial stability as its primary objective. As this is a relatively new objective, all central banks endeavouring to attain this objective have been facing numerous difficulties. Therefore, the article analyzes some of these difficulties such as defining financial (in)stability, the selection of indicators, macroeconomic environment for preserving financial stability, and the like. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the framework for preserving financial stability in Montenegro and the challenges that the Central Bank of Montenegro has been facing in accomplishing this objective


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 1731-1746
Author(s):  
D.A. Artemenko ◽  
I.I. Bychkova

Subject. We consider the application of negative interest rates by central banks of various countries, as a monetary policy tool. Objectives. We focus on reviewing the historical retrospect, potential risks, as well as positive and negative aspects of using negative interest rate instruments by developed countries. Methods. The study rests on the logical, systems, functional, and situational analysis, methods of grouping, and the monographic survey. Results. The use of negative interest rates as a monetary policy tool by financial regulators in various countries is a least-evil solution, which is aimed at improving the economy after the global economic crisis of 2008–2010. At present, positive and negative factors of the tools' impact on the financial sphere have been identified. In particular, the advantage is a balance between inflation and deflation, as the latter leads to a reduction in aggregate demand, an increase in unemployment, a fall in asset prices, and a slowdown in economic growth. The banking sector bears the risks of negative margin from operations involving fund-raising. The use of negative interest rates is possible, if other measures aimed at boosting economic growth are applied simultaneously. Conclusions. The findings can be used to investigate the negative interest rate instrument and evaluate its effectiveness. They can be helpful for financial market specialists.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Monal Abdel-Baki

Among the triggers of the Arab Spring are the declining living standards of the middle and lower income groups. Undoubtedly, the global financial crisis (GFC) is to be partially blamed for weakening the economies of these nations. But was monetary policy ineffective in combating inflation and reducing the meltdown? This paper employs a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to assess the effectiveness of the monetary policy in the wake of the GFC. Egypt is selected as a case study due to its overdependence on imported food, the prices of which are relentlessly soaring. The results of the study reveal that the ideal operating targets for the Central Bank of Egypt are the overnight rate and legal reserve requirements. Interest rates are more suitable for long-run impact on the ultimate goals of growth, price stability and job creation. The study culminates in designing a framework to enhance central bankers’ political independence and transparency, which is imperative for nations with high levels of corruption. The study is not only informative to the new Egyptian policymakers, but also to other developing and emerging economies that suffer from symptoms of chronic inflation and looming socio-political turmoil.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document