Excess Liquidity and the Foreign Currency Constraint: The Case of Monetary Management in Guyana

Khemraj, Tarron (2008): Excess Liquidity and the Foreign Currency Constraint: The Case of Monetary Management in Guyana. Published in: Applied Economics , Vol. 41, No. 16 (November 2009): pp. 2073-2084.

Abstract

This paper examines why commercial banks in Guyana demand non-remunerated excess reserves, a phenomenon that became even more widespread after financial liberalisation. Despite the removal of capital controls, banks do not invest all excess reserves in a safe foreign asset because the central bank maintains an unofficial foreign currency constraint by accumulating international reserves. The findings suggest that commercial banks do not demand excess reserves for precautionary purpose – which is the conclusion of several other studies – but rather because of the maintained constraint. The estimated sterilisation coefficient is consistent with the hypothesis of an enforced constraint. The results, moreover, suggest an alternative way of looking at the monetary transmission mechanism in developing countries. The central bank maintains price and exchange rate stability through the accumulation of foreign reserves.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Excess bank liquidity, monetary transmission mechanism, ARDL model, Guyana
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E30 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E4 - Money and Interest Rates > E42 - Monetary Systems ; Standards ; Regimes ; Government and the Monetary System ; Payment Systems; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E51 - Money Supply ; Credit ; Money Multipliers; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E52 - Monetary Policy; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F31 - Foreign Exchange

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