Fiscal dominance and monetary dominance in Brazil: An empirical analysis using Local Projections from 1999 to 2022

Abstract

This article addresses the conditions under which the Brazilian economy was under fiscal or monetary dominance from January 1999, the beginning of the Inflation Targeting Regime, to November 2022. The definition of fiscal dominance used was that of Blanchard (2004), by which Brazil is in fiscal dominance when monetary policy is not able to move the exchange rate. Estimating impulse response functions using Local Projections, allow us to conclude that in the period of high indebtedness there was monetary dominance. This result is consistent with the growth of the fiscal surplus linked to the evolution of interest and appreciation of the real exchange rate. However, when the net domestic debt was relatively low, fiscal dominance was observed, the absence of a fiscal surplus response to interest growth did not allow monetary policy to affect the exchange rate trajectory.