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  • 2020
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  • Asset Management at Central Banks and Monetary Authorities

Reserve Accumulation, Sovereign Debt, and Exchange Rate Policy

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
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Abstract

In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. Additionally, emerging countries are increasingly deviating from inflation targeting regimes, managing their exchange rate and engaging in exchange-rate accumulation. In light of these trends, we revisit sovereign debt sustainability, and the choice of the optimal exchange-rate regime, under the assumptions that countries can accumulate reserves and borrow internationally using their own currency. As opposed to traditional sovereign debt models, asset valuation effects occasioned by currency fluctuations act to absorb global shock and render consumption smoother. Countries do not accumulate reserve to be depleted in “bad” times. Instead, issuing domestic debt while accumulating reserves acts as a hedge against external shocks. We propose that a “pseudo-flexible regime” is the best policy alternative for emerging nations that face international shocks. A quantitative exercise suggests this strategy to be effective for smoothing consumption and reducing the occurrence of default and obtains that optimal reserve holdings turn out to be as large as those presently observed.

Keywords

Reserves; Exchange Rate; Sovereign Finance; Currency Exchange Rate; Policy

Citation

Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk. "Reserve Accumulation, Sovereign Debt, and Exchange Rate Policy." In Asset Management at Central Banks and Monetary Authorities: New Practices in Managing International Foreign Exchange Reserves, edited by Jacob Bjorheim. Springer, 2020. (Book link.)

About The Author

Laura Alfaro

General Management
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More from the Authors
  • Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf and Farzad Saidi
  • FIELD Immersion 2022: Lawrence, Massachusetts By: Laura Alfaro and Tom Quinn
  • Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu
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