Openness and the Effects of Monetary Policy in Africa

This paper investigates the relationship between a country's openness to trade and the effects of monetary policy on output growth and inflation in Africa. Theory suggest that monetary policy effectiveness is influenced by the degree of openness to international trade. We apply standard panel data techniques to annual data from the period 1990-2015 for a panel of 37 African countries, and find a strong significant relationship between openness and monetary policy effectiveness in Africa. The empirical results indicate that the effects of monetary policy on output growth and inflation increases and decreases respectively with higher levels of trade openness. Therefore, monetary authorities should place emphasis on the level of openness when designing their choice of optimal monetary policy.