Exchange Rate Pass-through to Consumer Prices in South Africa
Author | : Janine Aron |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 31 |
Release | : 2013 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:863207794 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (94 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: A sizeable literature examines exchange rate pass-through to disaggregated import prices but very few micro-studies focus on consumer prices. This paper explores exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices in South Africa during 2002-2007, using a unique data set of highly disaggregated data at the product and outlet level. The paper adopts an empirical approach that allows pass-through to be calculated over various horizons, including controls for domestic and foreign costs. It studies how pass-through differs across types of consumption goods and services and draws some aggregate implications about pass-through, using actual weights from the CPI basket. The heterogeneity of pass-through for different food sub-components and the role of switches between import and export parity pricing of maize is investigated and found significant for five out of ten food sub-components. Overall pass-through to the almost 63 percent of the CPI covered is estimated at about 30 percent after two years, but is higher for food.