Trade balance instability and the optimal exchange rate regime: The case of OPEC countries
The OPEC members have experienced wide fluctuations in their trade balances. This can be attributed to several factors: (1) heavy dependence of national income and export earnings on a single primary export-oil; (2) instability of price and world demand for oil; and (3) the exchange rate regime practiced in recent years. An exchange rate policy can be used to minimize the fluctuations in trade balance, given the changes in exchange rates of major international currencies. The purpose of this study is two fold; first, examine the effects of fluctuations in trade balance on the OPEC economies, and second, propose appropriate exchange rate regime for selected OPEC members. The study is divided into two parts. The first part demonstrates the impact of trade balance changes on national income and other macroeconomic variables using a Keynesian framework. The second part involves using conventional trade models to search for the appropriate exchange rate regime to minimize the fluctuations in trade balance of each selective country. The study's findings are: first, fluctuations in trade balances had negative effects on the economics of Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Second, the current exchange rate regime of no sample country is optimal in minimizing trade balance fluctuations. Third, in contrast to expectations, U.S. dollar peg did not stabilize the trade balance of any OPEC member. Finally, the results show that the sample OPEC economies could have enjoyed faster - though with different degree - economic growth if they had pegged their currencies to the derived optimal exchange rate regime. These optimal exchange rate regimes are: the SDR for Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, the purchasing power parity for Libya and Saudi Arabia, and the real Yen for Kuwait.
- Research Organization:
- Nebraska Univ., Lincoln, NE (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 6990417
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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