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INTRODUCTION:
As you all know that the ultimate objective of the developing countries is to attain the
highest level of economic growth. These countries posses enormous natural and
manpower resources, but most of these resources are unutilized or underutilized. The
process of economic development has started with a low key-not and the real rate of
economic growth has been far below the targeted rate of growth. The main obstacles
have been the paucity of capital resource, technical know-how, and lack of well-defined
order of priorities. The State in the recent past has started taking an active and keep
interest in the developmental activities, but it has attained limited success. The State is
equipped with monetary and fiscal policies to keep an over-all control over the economy.
We shall not examine the role, efficacy, and limitations of monetary and fiscal policies in
the developing countries.
1. MONETARY POLICY
Meaning of Monetary Policy
Monetary policy, generally, refers to those policy measures of the central bank
which are adopted to control and regulate the supply of money, the cost and availability
of credit in a country. Monetary policy consists of those monetary decisions and
measures the aim of which is to influence the monetary system. According to Paul
Einzig, an ideal monetary policy may be defined “as the effort to reduce to a minimum
the disadvantages and increase the advantages, resulting from the existence and
operation of a monetary sytem.”1
Broadly speaking, by monetary policy is meant the policy pursued by the central
bank of a country for administering and controlling country’s money supply including
currency and demand deposits and managing the foreign exchange rates. The central
bank of a country through its monetary policy manipulates the money supply, credit,
government expenditure, and rates of interest in such a manner so that the monetary
system may be benefited to the maximum extent.
We shall now discuss in brief each one of the above objectives of the monetary policy.
1. Stability of Exchange Rates. Most of the economics of the world today are open
economies. These economies have maintained trade relations with other countries.
International trade transactions take place on the basis of a fixed rate of exchange. Any
change in the equilibrium rate of exchange will have deep repercussions on the balance
of payments of a country. It is, therefore, essential to maintain stability in the exchange
rates.
In gold standard, the exchange rate stability was maintained through the
automatic working of the system. Free movement of gold from one country to another
helped in correcting the disequilibrium in the balance of payments, whenever and d
wherever it arose. But, the country had to sacrifice the domestic price stability for the
sake of stability in exchange rates. The gold standard was finally abandoned after World
War I, and since then the objective of stability of exchange rates has lost its significance.
However, in paper currency standard, stability of exchange rates is maintained through
the device of devaluation or overvaluation of the currency, as the case may be. Now, in
most of the countries the monetary policy is directed towards achieveing economic
stability.
2. Price Stability . Economists like Gustav Cassel and Keynes argue that
domestic price stability should be the main objective of central bank’s monetary policy.
Violetn fluctuations in prices create the problem of inflation and deflation which cause
enormous hardships to consumers, wage-earners and other factor-owners. Both post-
war inflation and great depression of 30’s have convinced the economists that the
objective of monetary policy should be the stabilization of the domestic price level even if
this stabilisation may mean destabilization of the exchange rates.
The objective of price stability has been criticized on several grounds. Modern
economists believe that the objective of monetary policy should not be restricted only to
the price stability but to the stabilization of the economic activity at full employment level
in the economy. Moreover, the term ‘price stability’ is very vague. Price level may mean
wholesale prices, retail prices, labour prices, and so on. The stabilization of general
price level is compatible with rising or falling of individual prices. Above all, the objective
of price stability ignores the realistic requirements of a dynamic society. Thus, on
account of the aforesaid limitations the objective of price stability has lost its significance
in present times. It is now resorted to along with the currently more important objective,
i.e. full employment.
3. Neutrality of Money. Prof. Hayek and some other economists belonging to
the a Austrian School have emphasized upon the neutrality of money as the objective of
monetary policy. The neutral money policy is based upon the assumption that money
should only play the role of medium of exchange and should not work as a measure of
value. In other words, the money supply should be regulated in such a manner that it
may not affect the output, price, employment, etc. It is only by keeping the supply of
money as constant that it can play neutral role.
It is, however, wrong to assume that by keeping the supply of money as constant
the fluctuations in the price level can be avoided. Even the money supply remains
unchanged, but if velocity of circulation increases or decreases, it will definitely disturb
the price level. Thus, it is clear that the monetary authority cannot make the money
neutral just by keeping its supply unchanged.
4. Full Employment. Full employment refers to a situation in which all those
who are able and willing to work at he prevailing rates of wages get employment
opportunities. Full employment, however, does not mean complete or total employment.
Even at full employment level 2% to 5% resources may remain unemployed. Various
forms of unemployment like involuntary unemployment, seasonal unemployment,
frictional unemployment and structural unemployment may exist at full employment level.
It may not be very difficult for most countries to achieve the level of full employment but
the real problem is how to maintain it in the long run. Periodical fluctuations in the
business activities may cause unemployment in the economic system. The monetary
policy, therefore, should be directed to ensure that current investment exceeds current
saving and this can be done by creation of credit money or by the creation of additional
bank deposits or by higher velocity of circulation. When full employment is achieved,
efforts should be made to maintain equality between saving and investment at the full
employment level. According to Crowther, “the obvious objective of the monetary policy
of a country should be to attain equilibrium between saving and investment at the point
of full employment.”
5. Economic Growth with Stability. While for most of the developed countries the
objective of monetary policy is to maintain equality between saving and investment at ht full
employment level, the monetary policy in the undeveloped countries is directed towards achieving
high rate of economic growth. Monetary authority in an underdeveloped economy can use
different tools to promote economic growth.
Economic growth refers to a process whereby an economy’s real national income
increases over a long period of time. By increase in real national income we mean more
availability of goods and services in a country during a given period of time. Thus,
economic growth means the transformation of society of a country from a state of under
development to a high level of economic achievement.
The main hinderance in economic growth is the lack of investment activities in
the underdeveloped countries. Monetary policy can play a very crucial role in promoting
the investment activities. Monetary policy can also discourage investment in less-
productive or less-useful activities. In other words, monetary policy may be a mixture of
‘cheap’ and ‘tight’ monetary management, so as to encourage and discourage
investment according to the requirement, so as to encourage and discourage investment
according to the requirements of business activities. Besides, the monetary policy
should also aim at maintaining stability in the economy. Monetary policy should be
directed towards achieving high rate of growth over a long period of time.
The following are the main objectives of monetary policy in a developing economy.
Monetary policy can play a very crucial and significant role in the economic development
of developing countries. However, the success of the monetary policy is limited by
certain factors, the more important amongst these are as follows:
(i) Underdeveloped Monetary and Capital Market. Most of the developing
countries do not have a well-developed and fully-organised money and capital market.
In the absence of such developed money markets it is not possible to effectively
implement the various credit control policies by the central bank.
(ii) Lack of Integrated Structure of Rate of Interest. In the developing
countries a sizable proportion of the total financial resources comes from the
unorganized banking sector. In the absence of an integrated and well-organised
structure of rate of interest the central bank fails to influence the market rate of interest
through changes in the bank rate. In fact, any increase or decrease in the bank rate
must be reflected in the form of increased or decreased market rate of interest, but it
does not happen in the developing countries.
(iii) Banking Habits of the People. In the developing countries most of the
exchange transactions are conducted with the help of money. People very seldom use
credit instruments to perform exchange transactions. It is for this reason that the credit
control policy of the central bank does not have desired effect on the business activities.
(iv) Lack of Co-operation by the Commercial Bank. Commercial banks are
the institutions which help in the implementation of the monetary policy pursued b ythe
central bank. In developing countries, however, the commercial banks fail to provide
sufficient co-operation to the central bank and in some cases they also flout the
directives given by the central bank. Monetary policy cannot succeed unless and until
there exists a proper coordination and co-operation between the central bank and
commercial banks.
(v) Literacy and Social Obstacles. Most of the developing countries suffer from
mass illiteracy, superstitions, dogmatism and other social evils. People do not
understand the significance of banking institutions. Neither they keep their deposits with
the banks nor do they avail the opportunities of loans and advances from the banks.
The success of monetary policy depends upon the widespread banking institutions,
banking habits of the people, adequate development of credit facilities, adequate
quantity of bank deposits, entrepreneurial ability, etc.
In brief, the monetary policy in a developing country suffer from several
limitations. The monetary authority on the one hand, has to create conditions whereby
the banking and financial institutions may flourish, and, on the other hand, it has to
exercise various restrictions and controls to regulate the supply of current and credit in
economy. The monetary authority has also to manipulate the credit policy in such a way
as to step up saving and investment activities for accelerating the rate of economic
growth.
2. FISCAL POLICY
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Objectives of Monetary Policy
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Questions for self assessment:
1. The obvious aim of the monetary policy of a country
is to attain equilibrium between saving and
investment at the point of full employment. “ Discuss.
2. What is meant by monetary policy? What should be
the objectives of monetary policy in a developing
country?
3. Discuss the objectives of fiscal policy in a developing
country.
4. Explain how the objective of full employment and
stability is achieved through fiscal policy in a
developing country.
5. write short notes on:
6. How is fiscal policy different from monetary policy/
What are the objectives of fiscal policy in a
developing economy like India?
7. “Fiscal and monetary policy have to be
complementary to achieve the goals of a developing
economy.” Do you agree with the above statement?
Discuss in detail.