Context: Greater public spending will increase the fiscal deficit and this expansion has to be financed. However, when the economy is in a recession, this is usually not in the reckoning even though the balanced-budget multiplier is one, i.e., output expands by exactly the same amount as the increase in government spending.

Money financing

• The media has recently reported some economists responding to the suggestion of money financing with the Friedman-esque quip “there ain’t no free lunch”. But it may be mentioned that there is no free lunch in the case of debt financing either.
• Not only have the money to be repaid, they will have to be paid back in hard currency. This would involve India having to earn hard currency by stepping up exports.
• If a stimulus of approximately 10% of the GDP is envisaged, with exports at 25% of the GDP, it would imply stepping up exports by close to 50%. This would be a herculean task under present circumstances. Indian exports have been faring poorly since 2014.

Borrowing from World Bank:

• Three more issues are relevant when considering borrowing from the World Bank and the IMF.
• First, there is the issue of conditionalities. There is no reason to oppose conditionalities on principle but it is not obvious what conditionalities will come along with the loan.
• Second, a loan is bound to take some time to be negotiated, taxing the energies of a government that ought to be engaged in the day-to-day battle with COVID-19.
• Third, external debt is truly national, which arguably, government bonds held by the country’s private sector are not.

A taboo subject

• The standard economic argument against money financing is that it is inflationary. However, whether a fiscal expansion is inflationary or not is related more to the state of the economy than the medium of its financing.
• When resources are unemployed, output may be expected to expand without inflation. As COVID-19 has shocked output downwards, unemployed resources must now exist.
• There is no reasoned case for denying ourselves the option of money financing to take us back to pre-COVID-19 levels of output and employment.

Reference:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-to-pay-for-the-stimulus/article32279610.ecev

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