Inflation Targeting in Latin America

This paper analyzes Latin America’s recent experience with the use of inflation targeting (IT) while the region has made substantial progress toward eradicating high inflation. The paper assesses the implementation and results of inflation targeting in Latin America from a broad perspective. It starts by reviewing the issues relevant for the choice of exchange-rate regimes and monetary frameworks, documenting the evolution of exchange rate and monetary regimes in Latin America during the last two decades. Then it describes the Latin American and world samples of inflation targeters and compares their performance to non-targeters, focusing on their success in meeting inflation targets, their output sacrifice in achieving low inflation, and their output volatility. A more detailed analysis of five IT experiences follows for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, with reference to the design of IT in the world sample of inflation targeters. The paper concludes by focusing on the dynamics of inflation reduction in the longest IT experience in the region (the case of Chile), evaluating how IT has affected inflation expectations and hence the effectiveness of monetary policy, using a battery of alternative model estimations and simulations.