Examine how the government has responded to the inflationary effect of rising global commodity prices by analyzing the effectiveness and durability of fiscal policy initiatives like lowering gasoline excise taxes and offering subsidies.
Model Answer Introduction Addressing persistent high food inflation is essential for ensuring economic stability and maintaining citizens’ standard of living, as recognized under Article 47 of the Indian Constitution. The phenomenon of food inflation in India is multifaceted, influenced by domesticRead more
Model Answer
Introduction
Addressing persistent high food inflation is essential for ensuring economic stability and maintaining citizens’ standard of living, as recognized under Article 47 of the Indian Constitution. The phenomenon of food inflation in India is multifaceted, influenced by domestic production, global market conditions, and government policies.
- Supply Chain Disruptions: Disruptions in transportation, labor, and logistics often result in reduced food availability. For example, the 2010 and 2013 droughts highlighted how adverse climatic conditions disrupted the supply chain, causing price spikes.
- Increased Cost of Production: Rising production costs, such as fuel, wages, and raw materials, inflate food prices. The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission raised wages, increasing agricultural production costs.
- Global Market Dependency: India relies on imports for commodities like edible oils and pulses, making it vulnerable to global price fluctuations. A spike in global crude oil prices affects the cost of edible oil imports, influencing domestic prices.
- Inflation Expectations: Expectations of rising prices often result in actual price hikes, as observed in consumer behavior. RBI studies show that inflation expectations among households correlate with higher food prices.
- Energy Prices: The deregulation of fuel prices increases transportation costs, further escalating food inflation. The deregulation of diesel prices in 2014 directly impacted the transportation costs of agricultural goods.
- Adverse Weather Conditions: Erratic weather patterns, like weak monsoons or heat waves, affect crop yields and lead to shortages. The weak monsoon of 2023 affected the production of cereals, causing an inflation surge.
- Government Policies on MSP: Minimum Support Price encourages disproportionate cultivation of certain crops, leading to supply-demand imbalances. Heavy MSP support for rice and wheat skews market supply, affecting inflation for other essential crops.
Effectiveness of RBI’s Monetary Policy to Control Food Inflation
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) employs several strategies to manage inflation, including food inflation:
- Use of Repo Rate: The RBI uses its repo rate as a tool to control inflation by making borrowing costlier, thus reducing demand for goods and services, including food items.
- Inflation-Targeting Framework: The RBI’s inflation-targeting framework (4% ± 2%) provides a structured approach to managing inflation but struggles to meet targets when food inflation rises due to external factors like supply disruptions or global shocks.
- Liquidity Management: The RBI implements liquidity adjustment facilities to manage excess money supply, helping to control demand-pull inflation.
- Focus on Core Inflation: The RBI focuses on core inflation, excluding food and fuel prices, which can enhance its ability to maintain overall price stability.
- Intervention in Exchange Rate Management: The RBI intervenes in the forex market to manage the exchange rate, which can impact the cost of imported food items, especially edible oils and pulses.
- Coordination with Fiscal Policy: Effective control of food inflation requires coordination between RBI’s monetary measures and government fiscal policies, such as subsidies and import duties.
Shortcomings of RBI’s Monetary Policy
Despite these measures, the RBI faces challenges in controlling food inflation:
- Limited Impact on Supply-Side Factors: Food inflation is driven by supply-side issues like weather disruptions and transport costs, which monetary policy can’t address effectively.
- Exclusion of Food from Core Inflation Focus: RBI targets core inflation, excluding food prices, limiting its ability to control volatile food inflation.
- Delayed Policy Impact: Monetary policy takes time to influence the economy, while food inflation reacts quickly to supply shocks.
- Ineffective Against Imported Inflation: Global price changes, like in edible oils, affect Indian food inflation, beyond RBI’s control.
Conclusion
While RBI’s monetary policy helps curb inflation, its effect on food inflation is limited by supply constraints and global factors. A coordinated approach, including fiscal interventions and agricultural reforms, is essential for ensuring food price stability and economic resilience.
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Government's Use of Fiscal Policy Tools to Address Inflationary Impact The government employs various fiscal policy tools, such as reducing excise duties on fuel and providing subsidies, to mitigate the inflationary effects of increasing global commodity prices. Reduction of Excise Duties on Fuel: ORead more
Government’s Use of Fiscal Policy Tools to Address Inflationary Impact
The government employs various fiscal policy tools, such as reducing excise duties on fuel and providing subsidies, to mitigate the inflationary effects of increasing global commodity prices.
Reduction of Excise Duties on Fuel:
One of the key measures adopted by the government to counter the inflationary impact of rising global commodity prices is the reduction of excise duties on fuel. Lowering excise duties on petrol and diesel can help in curbing the direct impact of high fuel prices on inflation, as fuel costs affect transportation and production costs across various sectors.
Provision of Subsidies:
Additionally, the government provides subsidies in various forms to stabilize prices and shield consumers from the full impact of rising commodity prices. Subsidies on essential commodities like food items can help in controlling inflation by keeping prices in check for consumers.
Assessment of Sustainability and Efficacy
Sustainability of Measures:
While reductions in excise duties and the provision of subsidies can provide short-term relief from inflationary pressures, their sustainability over the long term can be challenging. Heavy reliance on subsidies can strain government finances and may not be a sustainable solution in the face of prolonged commodity price hikes.
Efficacy of Measures:
The efficacy of these fiscal policy tools in addressing inflationary impacts depends on various factors. While reducing excise duties on fuel can help in easing immediate price pressures, the extent to which these reductions are passed on to consumers by oil marketing companies also plays a crucial role in determining their effectiveness.
Recent Examples:
In recent years, the Indian government has utilized these fiscal policy tools to address the inflationary impact of rising global commodity prices. For instance, during periods of sharp increases in fuel prices, the government has occasionally announced excise duty cuts to provide relief to consumers. Similarly, subsidies on essential commodities have been used to stabilize prices and protect vulnerable sections of society from the impact of inflation.
Conclusion:
See lessIn conclusion, while the government’s use of fiscal policy tools like reducing excise duties on fuel and providing subsidies can be effective in managing inflationary pressures in the short term, their sustainability and long-term efficacy need to be carefully evaluated. A balanced approach that considers the broader economic implications and fiscal sustainability is essential to ensure that these measures effectively mitigate the impact of rising global commodity prices on inflation while supporting overall economic stability.