United Kingdom Monetary Policy

1347 Words3 Pages

Monetary policy is the control of monetary variables such as, interest rates and money supply, by governments in order to stimulate the economy. Monetary policy can also be utilised in order to control the length and severity of recessions. In recent years, monetary policy has become the prime tool of government macro-economic policies with a particular emphasis on interest rates as the main control variable within monetary policy. The prominence of interest rates means that monetary policy can affect the aggregate demand. For example, at higher interest rate levels, firms invest less and households spend less due to the increase in the cost of borrowing. Therefore, households and firms are less willing to borrow money for investing or consuming purposes. The rising interest rates also can have an affect on the international world. For instance, if the United Kingdom has relatively high interest rates in comparison to the rest of the world, it will cause the exchange rates to escalate. If the exchange rates rise due to the increase in interest rates, it will dramatically affect the United Kingdom’s competitiveness in the world market. The changes of interest rates and their effects can be explained by the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. In May 1997, Tony Blair’s government gave the responsibility of looking after monetary policy to the Bank of England. It was therefore up to the Bank of England to try and achieve the government’s stated inflation targets. The original inflation target at that time was set at 2.5% for RPIX inflation. RPIX means that the inflation rates were being set on the retail price index whilst excluding mortgage interest payments. However, in 2004, the inflation rate was amended to a rat... ... middle of paper ... ...t in a country on the opposite side of the world. With regards to Figure 3, it is easy to see that the recession began to set in towards the end of 2008, as inflationary prices start to decrease quite dramatically. In conclusion, I believe it is important to be conscious of the fact that in order for monetary policy to succeed and be effective, it must be combined and intertwined with other economic policies such as fiscal policy and supply-side policies. Therefore, it is not possible to solely blame monetary policy for the current economic downturn nor would it be just to praise only monetary policy during the relatively calm and stable economic periods within the United Kingdom. Works Cited http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/images/from_int_inf2.gif http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/how.htm http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/statement_chx_050309.htm

Open Document