As reservas obrigatórias e a gestão da politica monetária em Moçambique: implementação e reformas no contexto da transição ao controlo monetário indirecto

Abstract

The present work studies the mandatory reserves, from the point of view of their functions as well as the technical issues related to their implementation. The reforms introduced at the level of this indirect monetary policy instrument are analyzed, with emphasis on the specific case of the Mozambican economy, through a bibliography review, consultation of documents and interviews. At the level of the theoretical framework of the theme, an attempt is made to understand how monetary policy is implemented, guiding the discussion to the strategic and operational frameworks of monetary policy, where the final and intermediate objectives are identified on the one hand, and the policy instruments on the other. and operational objectives. Price stability is undoubtedly the main objective of monetary policy. In the case of developing countries, monetary aggregates such as the money supply, the monetary base have been elected as intermediate policy objectives, while in the case of industrialized countries, the choice generally falls on interest rates. It is concluded that in the context of indirect monetary control, monetary policy tends to be more flexible, with the action of the monetary authorities centered on the market, being through the influence on the supply and demand conditions in the bank reserve market, that resides the central banks' power to ultimately achieve the ultimate goals of price stability and growth of output in the economy. Mandatory reserves can perform different functions, namely the liquidity guarantee function (considered a prudential function), the liquidity management function, the monetary control function, the interest rate stabilization function and the tax function. Please note that these functions are not mutually exclusive. In view of the continuous reduction of mandatory reserves, in a context in which liquidity tends to increase as the financial system develops, combined with the emergence of deposit insurance and the development of bank supervision, the prudential role of mandatory reserves has been reduced. Its use as a tax instrument has been discouraged, following the distortions it introduces into the financial system. For monetary control purposes, mandatory reserves are considered to be a powerful monetary policy instrument, but in the context of indirect monetary control, changes in the reserve coefficient aimed at monetary control generally create distortions in the market. Small variations in the coefficient generally lead to major adjustments to the banks' portfolio and create efficiency problems, given their administrative nature. The monetary control model based on the mandatory reserves developed by Hardy (1997), suggests that a high reserve coefficient is not necessary for the purposes of monetary control, and that once the optimal level of mandatory reserves is reached, which depends on the parameters of In each economy, monetary authorities should not change them unless structural changes occur in the financial system, and they can achieve their policy objectives using more flexible and market-based instruments, such as open market operations. Liquidity management and interest rate stabilization also benefit from the presence of a mandatory reserve system, which can help to stabilize demand for bank reserves throughout the constitution period, thereby stabilizing interest rates and may also allow improvements in the forecast of the reserve variation factors, allowing a more correct intervention by the monetary authorities based on the other indirect monetary policy instruments. It should be noted that the variation in mandatory reserves to manage liquidity in the financial system is considered an inefficient and ineffective way of managing liquidity, so under normal conditions liquidity is managed through open market operations, using mandatory reserves for the purpose of creating a situation of structural reserve deficit in the market and in this way increasing the power of the central bank to act in the market