Characterizing the monetary transmission mechanism in a small open economy : the case of Malaysia

This paper evaluates the monetary policy response of Malaysia's central bank and the nature of monetary transmission mechanism in the 1990s when the exchange rate was on a managed float and the capital account was open. Structural vector autogression analysis is employed to evaluate how the central bank sets short term interest rates taking into consideration the constraints faced in adjusting the policy instrument to shocks to the economy. The impulse response functions and the variance decomposition indicate that the central bank preferred to use foreign exchange intervention rather than interest rate to stabilize the ringgit exchange rate. The results suggest that a sustained high level of interest rates would have caused a prolonged and deep contraction in output during the East Asian financial crisis. (Singap Econ Rev/DÜI)