IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/58233.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is South Africa's inflation target too persistent for monetary policy conduct?

Author

Listed:
  • Faul, Joseph
  • Khumalo, Bridgette
  • Pashe, Mpho
  • Khuzwayo, Miranda
  • Banda, Kamogelo
  • Jali, Senzo
  • Myeni, Bathandekile
  • Pule, Retlaodirela
  • Mosito, Boitshoko
  • Jack, Lona-u-Thando
  • Phiri, Andrew

Abstract

Can the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) substantially control inflation within their set target of 3-6 percent? We sought to investigate this phenomenon by examining multiple threshold effects in the persistence levels of quarterly aggregated inflation data collected between 2003 and 2014. To this end, we employ the three-regime threshold autoregressive (TAR) model of Hansen (2000). We favour this approach over other conventional linear econometric models as it permits us to test for varying persistency within the autoregressive (AR) components of the inflation process. Our empirical explorations reveal that the SARB’s set target does indeed lie within a range in which inflation is found to be most persistent. Overall and more importantly, our results suggest that the SARB should either consider revising their set inflation target by redefining the inflation target range to accommodate higher inflation rates or the Reserve Bank should consider abandoning the inflation targeting regime altogether.

Suggested Citation

  • Faul, Joseph & Khumalo, Bridgette & Pashe, Mpho & Khuzwayo, Miranda & Banda, Kamogelo & Jali, Senzo & Myeni, Bathandekile & Pule, Retlaodirela & Mosito, Boitshoko & Jack, Lona-u-Thando & Phiri, Andrew, 2014. "Is South Africa's inflation target too persistent for monetary policy conduct?," MPRA Paper 58233, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:58233
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/58233/1/MPRA_paper_58233.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Babecký & Fabrizio Coricelli & Roman Horváth, 2009. "Assessing Inflation Persistence: Micro Evidence on an Inflation Targeting Economy," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(2), pages 102-127, June.
    2. Gerald Epstein, 2003. "Alternatives to Inflation Targeting Monetary Policy for Stable and Egalitarian Growth: A Brief Research Summary," Working Papers wp62, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    3. Ruthira Naraidoo & Rangan Gupta, 2009. "Modelling monetary policy in South Africa: Focus on inflation targeting era using a simple learning rule," Working Papers 200904, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    4. Logan Rangasamy, 2009. "Inflation Persistence And Core Inflation: The Case Of South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(3), pages 430-444, September.
    5. Cuestas, Juan Carlos & Harrison, Barry, 2010. "Inflation persistence and nonlinearities in Central and Eastern European countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 81-83, February.
    6. Bruce E. Hansen, 2000. "Sample Splitting and Threshold Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(3), pages 575-604, May.
    7. Manmohan S. Kumar & Tatsuyoshi Okimoto, 2007. "Dynamics of Persistence in International Inflation Rates," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(6), pages 1457-1479, September.
    8. Janine Aron & John Muellbauer, 2007. "Review of Monetary Policy in South Africa since 1994," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(5), pages 705-744, November.
    9. Hansen, Bruce E, 1996. "Inference When a Nuisance Parameter Is Not Identified under the Null Hypothesis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 413-430, March.
    10. Oa Akinboade & Ew Niedermeier & Fk Siebrits, 2002. "The Dynamics of Inflation in South Africa: Implications for Policy*(1)," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(3), pages 213-223, March.
    11. Iqbal M. Zaidi, 2006. "Exchange Rate Flexibility and the Monetary Policy Framework in Pakistan," SBP Research Bulletin, State Bank of Pakistan, Research Department, vol. 2, pages 115-140.
    12. A. J. Khadaroo, 2005. "A threshold in inflation dynamics: evidence from emerging countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 719-723.
    13. Andrew T. Levin & Fabio M. Natalucci & Jeremy M. Piger, 2004. "The macroeconomic effects of inflation targeting," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 86(Jul), pages 51-80.
    14. Frederic S. Mishkin & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, 2001. "One decade of inflation targeting in the world : What do we know and what do we need to know?," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 101, Central Bank of Chile.
    15. Levin, Andrew & Gürkaynak, Refet & Swanson, Eric T., 2006. "Does Inflation Targeting Anchor Long-Run Inflation Expectations? Evidence from Long-Term Bond Yields in the US, UK and Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 5808, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Goncalves, Carlos Eduardo S. & Salles, Joao M., 2008. "Inflation targeting in emerging economies: What do the data say?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 312-318, February.
    17. Su Zhou, 2013. "Nonlinearity and stationarity of inflation rates: evidence from the euro-zone countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 849-856, March.
    18. Kevin S. Nell, 2000. "Is Low Inflation a Precondition for Faster Growth? The Case of South Africa," Studies in Economics 0011, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    19. Jan A. Swanepoel, 2004. "The Monetary‐Fiscal Policy Mix In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 72(4), pages 730-758, September.
    20. Estefania Mourelle & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Luis Alberiko Gil‐alana, 2011. "Is There An Asymmetric Behaviour In African Inflation? A Non‐Linear Approach," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 79(1), pages 68-90, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Phiri, 2020. "Structural changes in exchange rate-stock returns dynamics in South Africa: examining the role of crisis and new trading platform," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 171-193, February.
    2. Rangan Gupta & Charl Jooste & Omid Ranjbar, 2017. "South Africa’s inflation persistence: a quantile regression framework," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 367-386, November.
    3. Rangan Gupta & Charl Jooste & Omid Ranjbar, 2015. "The Changing Dynamics of South Africa's Inflation Persistence: Evidence from a Quantile Regression Framework," Working Papers 201563, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew Phiri, 2016. "Inflation persistence and monetary policy in South Africa: is the 3% to 6% inflation target too persistent?," International Journal of Sustainable Economy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(2), pages 111-124.
    2. Andrew Phiri, 2012. "Threshold effects and inflation persistence in South Africa," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 247-269, July.
    3. Giorgio Canarella & Stephen M. Miller, 2016. "Inflation Persistence and Structural Breaks: The Experience of Inflation Targeting Countries and the US," Working papers 2016-11, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    4. Chen, Shyh-Wei & Hsu, Chi-Sheng, 2016. "Threshold, smooth transition and mean reversion in inflation: New evidence from European countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 23-36.
    5. Andrew Phiri, 2018. "Inflation persistence in BRICS countries: A quantile autoregressive (QAR) approach," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 14(1), pages 97-104, January.
    6. Giorgio Canarella & Stephen M. Miller, 2016. "Inflation Targeting: New Evidence from Fractional Integration and Cointegration," Working papers 2016-08, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    7. Phiri, Andrew, 2017. "Inflation persistence in BRICS countries: A quantile autoregressive (QAR) model," MPRA Paper 79956, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Boubaker Heni & Canarella Giorgio & Miller Stephen M. & Gupta Rangan, 2017. "Time-varying persistence of inflation: evidence from a wavelet-based approach," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(4), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Vašíček, Bořek, 2012. "Is monetary policy in the new EU member states asymmetric?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 235-263.
    10. Svensson, Lars E.O., 2010. "Inflation Targeting," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 22, pages 1237-1302, Elsevier.
    11. Khoza, Keorapetse & Thebe, Relebogile & Phiri, Andrew, 2016. "Nonlinear impact of inflation on economic growth in South Africa: A smooth transition regression (STR) analysis," MPRA Paper 73840, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Broto, Carmen, 2011. "Inflation targeting in Latin America: Empirical analysis using GARCH models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1424-1434, May.
    13. Shyh-Wei Chen & Chi-Sheng Hsu & Cyun-Jhen Pen, 2016. "Are Inflation Rates Mean-reverting Processes? Evidence from Six Asian Countries," Journal of Economics and Management, College of Business, Feng Chia University, Taiwan, vol. 12(1), pages 119-155, February.
    14. Zafar Hayat & Saher Masood, 2022. "Inflation Targeting Skepticism: Myth or Reality? A Way Forward for Pakistan (Article)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 1-27.
    15. Estefania Mourelle & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Luis Alberiko Gil‐alana, 2011. "Is There An Asymmetric Behaviour In African Inflation? A Non‐Linear Approach," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 79(1), pages 68-90, March.
    16. Chevaughn van der Westhuizen & Renee van Eyden & Goodness C. Aye, 2022. "Is Inflation Uncertainty a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? The Inflation-Inflation Uncertainty Nexus and Inflation Targeting in South Africa," Working Papers 202254, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    17. López-Villavicencio, Antonia & Pourroy, Marc, 2019. "Does inflation targeting always matter for the ERPT? A robust approach," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 360-377.
    18. Carl E. Walsh, 2009. "Inflation Targeting: What Have We Learned?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 195-233, August.
    19. Demertzis, Maria & Marcellino, Massimiliano & Viegi, Nicola, 2008. "A Measure for Credibility: Tracking US Monetary Developments," CEPR Discussion Papers 7036, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Brito, Ricardo D. & Bystedt, Brianne, 2010. "Inflation targeting in emerging economies: Panel evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 198-210, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation persistence; TAR Models; Monetary Policy; South African Reserve Bank (SARB); Inflation Targeting; Developing Economy.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:58233. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.