Inflation dynamics in South Africa: The role of public debt

Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Inflation dynamics in South Africa: The role of public debt
 
Creator Sangweni, Sinethemba D. Ngalawa, Harold
 
Subject Inflation; inflation target; public debt; price stability; fiscal discipline; monetary policy; fiscal policy; policy coordination
Description Orientation: Inflation targeting requires prudent fiscal policy to achieve desired results.Motivation for the study: Since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, fiscal authorities in South Africa have implemented an aggressive fiscal stimulus that has resulted in an acceleration of public debt, accompanied by a sustained government deficit. At the same time, the economy has continued to struggle with achieving significant growth to assist the government with its ever-growing expenditure obligations.Research Purpose: This study set out to investigate the relationship between inflation dynamics and the stance of fiscal policy, with a focus on public debt, in South Africa.Method: This study employs a New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (NKDSGE) model with financial frictions calibrated on South African data.Main Findings: The results of this study showed that when fiscal authorities put a relatively small weight on the control of public debt, inflation significantly increases in response to economic shocks. As a result, the cost channel of monetary policy transmission dominates the demand channel even if the loan rate pass-through is complete.Practical/Managerial Implications: The results of this study highlight the importance of fiscal discipline and its potential adverse effects on monetary authorities’ ability to achieve price stability as set out in their monetary framework.Contribution/Value added: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse inflation dynamics and public debt in South Africa using modular experiments in a structural model derived from micro-economic foundations of constrained decision-making.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2023-02-08
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jef.v16i1.750
 
Source Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences; Vol 16, No 1 (2023); 11 pages 2312-2803 1995-7076
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/750/1525 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/750/1526 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/750/1527 https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/750/1528
 
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Sinethemba D. Sangweni, Harold Ngalawa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT