Monetary Policy, Inflation, and Distributional Impact: South Africa’s Case

The South African Reserve Bank has continued to fulfill its constitutional mandate to protect the value of the local currency by keeping inflation low and steady. This paper provides evidence that monetary policy tightening aimed at maintaining low and stable inflation could at the same time reduce...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Miyajima, Ken
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2021
Series:IMF Working Papers
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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651 4 |a South Africa 
653 |a Economic & financial crises & disasters 
653 |a Interest rates 
653 |a Inflation 
653 |a Wealth 
653 |a Economics 
653 |a Financial crises 
653 |a Income distribution 
653 |a Saving 
653 |a Financial services 
653 |a Deflation 
653 |a Economics: General 
653 |a Informal sector 
653 |a Aggregate Factor Income Distribution 
653 |a Economic sectors 
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653 |a Price Level 
653 |a Currency crises 
653 |a Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics: Household Analysis: General 
653 |a Banks and Banking 
653 |a Household consumption 
653 |a International Economics 
653 |a Consumption 
653 |a Prices 
653 |a Macroeconomics 
653 |a Macroeconomics: Consumption 
653 |a Banking 
653 |a Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects 
653 |a Income inequality 
653 |a Central Banks and Their Policies 
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520 |a The South African Reserve Bank has continued to fulfill its constitutional mandate to protect the value of the local currency by keeping inflation low and steady. This paper provides evidence that monetary policy tightening aimed at maintaining low and stable inflation could at the same time reduce consumption inequality over a 12–18 month horizon, commonly understood as the transmission lag of monetary policy action to the real economy, and similar to the distance between survey waves used in the analysis. In response to “exogenous” monetary policy tightening, the real consumption of individuals at lower ends of the consumption distribution declines relatively modestly, or even increases. With greater reliance on government transfers, thus smaller reliance on labor income, and relatively larger food consumption, these individuals appear to benefit mainly from lower inflation. By contrast, the real consumption of individuals at higher ends of the consumption distribution is more likely to decline due to lower labor income, weaker asset price performance, and higher debt service cost