FIGURE 18.8 Economic Effects of a Competitive Devaluation (Starting from a Balance-ofPayments
Equilibrium)
A competitive devaluation can be achieved only if the central bank buys foreign currency thus
increasing the domestic money supply. This raises the price of foreign currency, shifting the
external balance, BP, downward while the LM curve shifts to the right; the devaluation also
causes an expansion in exports and a reduction in imports shifting the IS curve out.
Corrective Devaluation
In this case, the country is facing chronic imbalances at the fixed exchange rate and is unable to
remain on the BP line. Basically, the country is trying to hold on to a fixed exchange rate regime
while facing a severe balance-of-payments imbalance (either a large current account deficit, or a
financial account deficit, or both). How could the country end up in such a situation? The country
could have used expansionary policies unwisely and attempted to sterilize reserve flows or it
might be facing chronic deficits resulting from a loss in international competitiveness. The
country must keep intervening to maintain its fixed exchange rate, but since the intervention
consists of selling foreign currency, the country’s reserves will eventually be depleted. One
solution to this quandary is to devalue the domestic currency. Again we can analyze the situation
using a graph of the foreign exchange market together with a central bank balance sheet in Figure
18.9.
At the original fixed exchange rate, Ef0, there is excess demand for the foreign currency, but the
reserves are too low to satisfy this excess demand. As a result, the central bank can announce a
new fixed exchange rate, this time at level Ef1 where the foreign exchange market is in
equilibrium. Note that, in this case, the central bank does not need to purchase any foreign
exchange as in the case of a competitive devaluation. Here market forces drive the exchange rate
up to Ef1.
In the Mundell–Fleming model of Figure 18.10, we see that the devaluation has a positive
impact on the economy. In this case, the initial position of the economy is at point a, where IS
and LM intersect below the BP line so BP