India Should Rely on Lower Rates to Stimulate Growth, OECD Says
by Kartik Goyal
June 24 (Bloomberg) — India should cut interest rates
rather than boost government spending if further measures are
needed to stimulate growth, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development said.
They need to read Bernanke’s 2004 paper which makes it clear lower interest rates are contractionary via the fiscal channel and need to be matched by fiscal expansion to overcome that effect.
Additionally, in today’s environment, lower rates hurt savers a lot more than the help borrowers. Rates for savers have fallen a lot more than rates for borrowers due to risk perceptions and implied capital costs as net interest margins for lenders have increased to over 4%. This also means reduced aggregate demand and begs additional fiscal measures to sustain GDP.
So while I strongly favor lower rates, I also recognize that one of the benefits of lower rates is that they allow reduced taxes or increased public expenditure to sustain output and employment at desired levels.
[top]