South Africa's Fiscal & Monetary Policy

Fiscal and monetary policy are alike because they are both meant for economic goals but differ in that fact that the government controls fiscal policy and the Federal Reserve controls monetary policy.

Meanwhile, other factors may change, rendering inappropriate a particular fiscal policy. Nevertheless, discretionary fiscal policy is a valuable tool in preventing severe recession or severe demand-pull inflation.

The Federal Open Market Committee in the Federal Reserve System is who determines the monetary policies. The Federal Open Market Committee reviews economic and financial developments and determines the appropriate stance of monetary policy during their eight meetings per year. The Federal Reserve plays no role in determining fiscal policy. Fiscal policy refers to an economic strategy that utilizes the taxing and spending powers of the government to impact a nation's economy. It is different from monetary policy, which is usually set by a central bank and focuses on market interest rates and the money

Policymakers who control monetary and fiscal policy and want to offset the effects on output of an economic contraction caused by a shift in aggregate supply could use policy to shift

When the Federal government has to find ways to regain any money lost they lean on the expansionary Fiscal policy and the monetary policy to regain money into the economy. Whether, a change in taxes or even government spending. Even to the three major tools of the expansionary monetary policy to focus on. In the first part of this paper, I will discuss the expansionary fiscal policy and how the Federal government was involved and the changes that needed to be made to taxes, government spending. The second part of this paper, I will discuss the monetary policy and the tools the Federal Reserve used when under this policy. The expansionary fiscal policy was out to kick start the economy, and the expansionary monetary policy was out to change interest rate, and influence money supply. When discussing these two policies you have to think about one aspect when will it ever stop? Will a policy always have to be part of the economy to help the government one way or another?

Fiscal policy involves the use of government altering the levels of spending, taxation and borrowing to influence the pattern of economic activity and affect the level of growth of aggregate demand, output and employment. The main goal of fiscal policy is to stimulate economic growth, keep inflation low (target of 2%) and to stabilise economic growth. There are two types of fiscal policy. Expansionary is linked to increases in government spending to boost economic activity and contractionary which is linked to decreasing government spending to lower economic activity.

There are two ways the economy can be assisted in growing and sustaining itself. First through fiscal policy from the national governments help of changing taxes and spending, then Monetary policy, the managing of money. The two are supposed to work together to help create a better economy but, at times fall short. Leaders in the government for the most part have a top priority to stay in their position, with that in mind they tend to give the people the immediate satisfaction they want which is increased spending and reduced taxes. With this approach fiscal policy is considered expansionary, restrictive monetary policy is what is needed to stop inflation to counteract this.

Thus, critics argue that monetary policy is a more effective tool to fight recessions. Christina and David Romer demonstrated that fiscal policy rarely reacts with the immediacy necessary to enact change during a trough in economic activity. Romer finds that there has been no significance to discretionary fiscal policy during troughs, while monetary policy has a seemingly significant role during historical recessions. John Taylor agrees, stating that even in the face of the lower bound of zero on interest rates, additional measures such as quantitiative easing would prove effective countercyclical policy. Ultimately, both economists reach the conclusion that there is no significance to discretionary fiscal policy during a recession, instead determining that monetary policy is the more effective tool.

The fiscal policies refer to the way in which the government affects those activities in the economy of a country. The major common fiscal policies that occur in the economy are the government expenditure and the level of taxation and they are usually advocated by the Central Bank of the country. The fiscal policies are a strategy that relates to the monetary policies that are used by the central bank of a country to control level of money supply in the country. The fiscal policies have a lot of influence on the money supply in the economy.

During times of economic recession or uncertainty, the government can enact expansionary fiscal policy to either combat a decline in economic function, or in times of extreme and potentially harmful economic growth, they can instead enact contractionary fiscal policy to reduce economic expansion. Expansionary fiscal policy is used to effect the economy in periods of recession or economic decline, through decreasing the tax rates imposed on tax sources, and by also increasing government spending on constructive programs and outlays. As a portion of expansionary fiscal policy, decreasing tax rates allows the constituents of the economy to increase their profits and revenue as a smaller portion of their income would be paid into taxes. An increased profitability of businesses and increased income for workers results in greater discretionary consumer and business spending creating a higher demand for normal goods and services along with increased per capita production due to greater profitability of said goods, which is economic growth. Economic recession can also be fought through expansionary fiscal policy by increasing government spending of taxed funds on government outlays. When the government uses taxed funds to increase government spending more goods and

Fiscal policy is a macroeconomic management tool that involves the use of the Commonwealth Government’s Budget In order to achieve the government’s economic objectives of. The budget is the tool of the government for the exercise of fiscal policy, it shows the government’s planned revenue for the next financial year. By varying the amount of government spending and revenue, the government can alter the level of aggregate demand, which in turn will influence economic growth, environmental sustainability, distribution of income and wealth, internal stability (inflation and unemployment) and external stability (current account deficit, foreign liabilities and the exchange

Monetary policy is the national macroeconomic regulation and control of two basic policies. It’s mainly work by implementing expansionary policies to adjust the relationship between social total supply and total demand. They have emphasized particularly on, and closely linked. And it must handle the relationship accurately and correctly. According to the actual situation and using the monetary policy, coordinate and flexible, to give full play to its due role. The government should ensure sustained, rapid and healthy development of national economy. The country to adjust the social capital supply and demand should as far as possible to avoid administrative interference, and should use economic means to guide, when the monetary policy effect is not obvious, fiscal policy should play a leading role.

Monetary policy, ‘The government’s policy relating to the money supply, bank interest rates, and borrowing’ (Collin: 130), is another tool available to the government to control inflation. Figure 4 shows, that by increasing the interest rate (r), from r1 to r2, the supply of money (ms) is reduced from Q1

This essay seeks to explain what are monetary and fiscal policy and their roles and contribution to the economy. This includes the role of the government in regulating the economical performance of a country. It also explains the different features and tools of monetary and fiscal policy and their performance when applied to the third world countries with a huge informal sector.

| Advocates of active monetary and fiscal policy view the economy as inherently unstable and believe that policy can manage aggregate demand, and thereby, production and employment, to offset the inherent instability. When aggregate demand is inadequate to ensure full employment, policymakers should boost government spending, cut taxes, and expand money supply. However, when aggregate demand is excessive, risking higher inflation, policymakers should cut government spending, raise taxes, and reduce the money supply. Such policy actions put