Strengthening macroeconomic policy capabilities
Achieving the transformations needed to sustain-productivity led growth is not
simply a matter of microeconomic economic forces and policies alone. Macroeconomic
and financial stability are also essential. Macroeconomic and financial instability are
inimical to the ability of businesses to make sound investment and other decisions as
well as to the capabilities of financial and other institutions that are critical to resource
allocation. Numerous historical experiences, including that of Japan during the 1990s,
have underscored the severe and protracted impediments to growth that macroeconomic
and financial stability can pose.
Most Emerging Asian countries have been quite successful in maintaining
macroeconomic and financial stability since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis (AFC),
particularly in the wake of the 2007-08 global financial crisis (GFC). Their success is
a reflection of significant improvements in the key institutional frameworks that
underpin macroeconomic and financial stability: monetary policy; financial supervision
and regulation (prudential policy); exchange rate policy; and fiscal policies. However,
the difficulties Emerging Asian countries had to overcome in maintaining stability in
the wake of the GFC, their continuing struggle to manage large surges and withdrawals
in capital flows, and the broader lessons that have come out of the GFC have highlighted
the need for further improvements in these frameworks, particularly in the following
areas:
• Strengthening of monetary policy instruments and, in some countries, clarification
of priorities.
• Further development of macroprudential frameworks and capabilities.
• Increased flexibility for exchange rates.