The effectiveness of central bank interventions in the foreign exchange market

Abstract

The global foreign exchange market is the largest financial market with turnover in this market often outstripping the GDP of countries in which they are located. The dynamics in the foreign exchange market, especially price dynamics, have huge implications for financial asset values, financial returns and volatility in the international financial system. It is therefore an important area of study. Exchange rates have often departed significantly from the level implied by fundamentals and exhibit excessive volatility. This reality creates a role for central bank intervention in this market to keep the rate in line with economic fundamentals and the overall policy mix, to stabilize market expectations and to calm disorderly markets. Studies that attempt to measure the effectiveness of intervention in the foreign exchange market in terms of exchange rate trends and volatility have had mixed results. This, in many cases, reflects the unavailability of data and the weaknesses in the empirical frameworks used to measure effectiveness. This thesis utilises the most recent data available and some of the latest methodological advances to measure the effectiveness of central bank intervention in the foreign exchange markets of a variety of countries. It therefore makes a contribution in the area of applied empirical methodologies for the measurement of the dynamics of intervention in the foreign exchange market. It demonstrates that by using high frequency data and more robust and appropriate empirical methodologies central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market can be effective. Moreover, a framework that takes account of the interactions between different central bank policy instruments and price dynamics, the reaction function of the central bank, different states of the market, liquidity in the market and the profitability of the central bank can improve the effectiveness of measuring the impact of central bank policy in the foreign exchange market and provide useful information to policy makers.