The Bank Of Canada 's Inflation Targeting Policy

The Federal Reserve has the dual job of ensuring price stability and maximum employment, which are contradictory objectives. The Feds try to achieve the goals through monetary policy which determines the demand and supply of money by controlling interest rates. The Fed’s goal is to achieve a natural rate of unemployment of more or less 5%. When the actual unemployment figures are below the natural rate of unemployment, inflation increases and there is a high demand of goods and services propelling the economy with the ensuing labor demands and the pressure it places on wages, which in turn produces inflation. When the Fed is faced with this scenario, it must increase the rates to slow the growth and achieve price stability (contractionary cycle).

The government may also use monetary policy in order to contain economic growth. Monetary policy refers to changes in interest rates in order to influence aggregate demand and economic activity. Monetary policy is conducted by the Reserve Bank of Australia, who use domestic market operations in order to change interest rates. If the RBA takes a loose monetary policy stance the RBA will purchase Commonwealth Government Securities in secondary bond markets. This increases the cash in the markets, and therefore pushes the overnight cash rate down. Interest rates will be lowered, which will result in higher consumer demand as the cost of interest on mortgages and credit card repayments will decrease. On the other hand a tight monetary stance results

Inflation is a general increase in the prices of all goods and services. Inflation occurs when the average level of prices in the economy increases over time. Even as overall prices are increasing, particular relative prices will change. The US Federal Reserve attempts to control and reduce inflation. Central banks focus is on strictly controlling inflation, protecting financial assets, and keeping labor markets strictly in check. Central Banks hold inflation more important than unemployment. Central Banks believe the only long-run impact of monetary policy is on the rate of inflation. They believe free-market forces in the real economy determine real output, employment, and productivity. To attain the targeted inflation rate, central banks influence credit creation and hence spending by frequently adjusting interest rates.

For the period of high inflation, government’s goal is to lessen the spending in the economy by making it less attractive to acquire loans or by taking currency out of circulation which eventually reduces inflation (Investopedia, 2008). “A major reduction in the rate of money-supply expansion ultimately will reduce even strongly entrenched inflation. But this accomplishment may take several years during which output and employment both fall (Wirick, 2001)”. The new contractionary monetary policy in New Brunswick will directly raise the interest rate by making money harder and more expensive to obtain. As a result, investment in New Brunswick will fall because the cost of borrowing money increases. Net exports tend to rise due to an increase in the interest rates because New Brunswick’s investment will relatively be more attractive to both domestic and foreign investors.

An inflation-control target range is 1% to 3%. The Bank of Canada targets to maintain inflation at 2% which is the midpoint of inflation-control target range. (Inflation, n.d.) In Canada, the inflation rate in December 2015 is 1.6%. It is the highest inflation rate in Canada since November 2004. Based on what we have learnt, inflation is an increase in the overall price level. In December 2015, the price level of imported goods and weak oil price increase due to the consequence of lower loonie. Besides, consumers pay 3.7% more on food as the price of vegetable and fruit become higher. They also pay more on shelter cost such as home, mortgage insurance and electricity. (Golubova, A., 2016) The higher the inflation rate, the lower the currency.

To begin, the article explains the Federal Reserve’s plan to take a careful approach to enacting contractionary monetary policies, policies used to decrease money supply, in the future. Last December the Federal Reserve raised the interest rates after they had been near zero for years to ensure inflation was kept in check and to promote economic growth. It appeared the economy would be in for another increase in the interest rates sometime this year, but the Feds have rethought that strategy. If the Federal Reserve were to continue to raise interest rates it would have short-run and long-run effects on the Money Market, Goods and Services Market, Planned Investment, Phillip Curve, and Aggregated Supply and Demand. These effects are aspects that have to be considered because they express and explain the effects the increase in interest rates has on the economy and explain if the Federal Reserve is enacting the correct policy to achieve their goal.

Congress has handed over the responsibility for monetary to the Federal Reserve, also known as the Fed, but retains oversight responsibilities in order to ensure that the Federal Reserve adheres to the statutory mandate of stable prices, moderate long-term rates of interest, as well as, maximum employment (Labonte, 2014). The responsibilities of the Fed as the country’s central bank are classified into four: monetary policy, supervision of particular types of banks and financial institutions for soundness and safety, provision of emergency liquidity through the function of the lender of last resort, and the provision of services of the payment system to financial institutions, as well as, the government (Labonte, 2014). The monetary role of the Federal Reserve necessitates aggregate demand management. The Federal Reserve defines monetary policy as the measures it undertakes in order to influence the cost and availability of credit and money to enhance the objectives mandated by Congress, which is maximum sustainable employment and a stable price level (Appelbaum, 2014). Since the expectations of businesses as capital goods purchasers and households as consumers exert an essential influence on the main section of spending in America, and the expectations are influenced in essential ways by the Federal Reserve’s actions, a wider definition would involve the policies, directives, forecasts of the economy, statements, and other actions by the Federal Reserve, particularly those

It widely recognized that the monetary policy within a country should be primarily concerned with the pursuit of price stability. However, it is still not clear how this objective can be achieved most effectively. This debate remains unsettled, but an increasing number of countries have adopted inflation targeting as their monetary policy framework. (Dr E J van der Merwe, 2002) This topic of Inflation targeting is a subject which immediately conjures different perceptions from different people. Many feel that low inflation should be a main aim of monetary policy, while others (such as trade union activists) believe that a higher growth rate to stimulate jobs should be the main concern.

Another area the RBA seeks to play a role in is controlling inflation levels, targeting limiting consumer price inflation to 2-3 percent.

Therefore, one of the expansionary activities conducted by the Federal Reserve is to set federal fund rate lower, which will affect credit availability, the money supply, interest rates, and security prices. That is to say, ceteris paribus, when the Federal Reserve buys securities in the open market, bank’s reserve accounts (deposit and assets) increases and when the discount rate is lowered it reduces the interest rate in the economy, thereby promoting borrowing, excessive spending by the economic agents, possibility that household, business and government will invest in fixed assets, increment in household purchasing durable goods (plant , state and local government and construction of new

Monetary Policy, in the United States, is the process by which the Federal Reserve controls the money supply to promote economic growth and stability. It is based on the relationship between interest rates of the economy and the total supply of money. The Federal Reserve uses a variety of monetary policy tools to control one or both of these.

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

Usually this goal is "macroeconomic stability" - low unemployment, low inflation, economic growth, and a balance of external payments. Monetary policy is usually administered by a Government appointed "Central Bank", the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve Bank

| 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

Monetary policy involves manipulating the interest rate charged by the central bank for lending money to the banking system in an economy, which influences greatly a vast number of macroeconomic variables. In the UK, the government set the policy targets, but the Bank of England and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are given authority and freedom to set interest rates, which is formally once every month. Contractionary monetary policy may be used to reduce price inflation by increasing the interest rate. Because banks have to pay more to borrow from the central bank they will increase the interest rates they charge their own customers for loans to recover the increased cost. Banks will also raise interest rates to encourage people to save more in bank deposit accounts so they can reduce their own borrowing from the central bank. As interest rates rise, consumers may save more and borrow less to spend on goods and services. Firms may also reduce the amount of money they borrow to invest in new equipment. A