Rajan calls for more global monetary policy coordination

Says non-system in international monetary policy is a source of substantial risk, both to sustainable growth as well as to the financial sector

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today made a case for more coordination in monetary policies by different central banks to deal with the spillover effect on emerging markets.

"My call for more coordination in monetary policy in its strong form, I propose that large country central banks, both in advanced countries and emerging markets, internalise more of the spillovers from their policies in their mandate...," he said in his remarks at a conference organised by Bank of Japan in Tokyo.

He further said that given the difficulties of operationalising the strong form, "I suggest that, at the very least, central banks reinterpret their domestic mandate to take into account other country reactions over time, and thus become more sensitive to spillovers".

Rajan said the current "non-system in international monetary policy is, in my view, a source of substantial risk", both to sustainable growth as well as to the financial sector.

"It is not an industrial country problem, nor an emerging market problem, it is a problem of collective action. The sooner we recognize that, the more sustainable world growth we will have," he said.

The Governor also made a case for setting up of strong international safety nets to discourage countries from accumulating huge foreign exchange reserves.

"...We should reduce the incentive for countries to engage in a repeat of substantial reserve accumulation by building stronger international safety nets," he said.