Description

The Central Bank of Chile replaced its monetary policy instrument in August 2001, shifting from a monetary policy rate (MPR) linked to an indexed unit of account (UF, defined by the lagged CPI) to a nominal MPR denominated in pesos. This policy change was complemented with a significant change in the Central Bank’s liability structure, from short and medium-term indexed debt to nominal peso debt. This paper analyses, both conceptually and empirically, the main effects of MPR nominalization on financial markets and the conduct and effectiveness of monetary policy. As opposed to previous studies on this subject, this paper concludes that the main advantage of nominalization was a widening of monetary policy options, precluding critical situations in the conduct of monetary policy that would have occurred at low MPR levels under the previous scheme of indexed MPRs.