FED su sa izbijanjem krize odlučile da relaksiraju monetarnu politiku i primene „kvantitativne olakšice“ (QE). Širenje arsenala imovine na strani aktive, te napuštanje samo primene tradicionalnih hartija od vrednosti (HOV), ublažilo je negativne efekte krize i upumpalo u najveću svetsku ekonomiju skoro 4,5 biliona dolara.
Primena novih alata iz bilansa stanja FED-a (za podršku tržištu i njihovo normalno funkcionisanje) ispostavilo se kao dobro rešenje poslednjih nekoliko godina. Na ovaj način FED dopunjuju tradicionalne instrumente monetarne politike promenom mixa finansijskih sredstava koje poseduje. Slične alate primenjuju centralne banke Japana, Velike Britanije, Kanade i Švajcarske. Ideja je da centralna banka pumpa novac kupovinom aktive (imovine), da se zatim napune banke novcem koji će davati u produktivne svrhe (kredite privredi i potrošačima). Zajednički cilj je podsticanje kreditiranja.
Pomenuti mix 03.09.2014. godine činili su: 1) kreditiranje finansijskih institucija (266,4 mlrd$), 2) obezbeđivanje likvidnosti ključnim kreditnim tržištima (1,8 mlrd$) i 3) kupovina dužničkih HOV (2,5 bil$). Tradicionalni portfolio HOV iznosio je 363,3 mlrd$, dok je ostatak od 1,7 bil$ otpadao na kupovinu dužničkih hipotekarnih hartija. Tokom finansijske krize FED je prvo omogućio finanijskim institucijama pristup kratkoročnom kapitalu. Da bi sredstva iz banaka završila na nelikvidnim tržištima FED je zahtevao da se ciljaju specifična tržišta kako bi došla do kratkoročnog i dugoročnog kapitala. Da bi unapredili likvidnost na privatnom kreditnom tržištu FED je odlučno krenuo u akciju kupovine dužničkih HOV. Ovim potezima FED daje jasan signal da je politiku jeftinih kreditnih (credit easing) koristio tokom krize.
FED-ove kvantitativne olakšice uključuju kupovinu HOV, kao i otkup duga SAD u obliku državnih zapisa i obveznica. Napušta se konzervatvini pristup uticaja monetarne ekspanzije i pritisak inflacije, a sve više dominiraju klasni interesi – kreditorima (poveriocima) više odgovara niska inflacija. U SAD se smatra da poverioci pokušavaju da svoje stanovište „lakog“ novca vežu na neku doktrinu – koja je, kako se ispotavilo, sa pogubnim posledicama (umesto nove politike koja bi kompenzovala gubitke pristuna je paranoja budžetskog deficita i deflacija, te sve dublji pad ekonomija).
Izgledi su da će im se uskoro, po rečima predsednika Dragia (04.09.2014), u primeni ovih alata pridružiti i ECB koja je već dugo vremena pod oprezom Nemačke da bi takve mere odložile strukturne reforme u mnogim zemljama Evrozone (pre svih, Francuskoj i Italiji) i da bi se prekinulo sa fiskalnom disciplinom (čitaj štednjom) i prilagođavanjem deficitarnih ekonomija Evrozone. ECB je započela kupovinu velikih sredstava kao blaže verzije QE koju primenjuju SAD. U sledećem mesecu ECB će početi sa kupovinama HOV jer snižavanje referentne kamatne stope na istoriski minimum od 0,05% (sa 0,15%), i porast naknada za štednju na 0,02% (sa 0,01%) ne daje željene rezultate (posebo sa zastojem u stimulisanju regionalnih ekonomija). Nepotpunom primenom kvantitativnih tj. kreditnih olakšica i rezultati u Evrozoni će biti skromniji.
Izvor: Federal reserve bank of Cleveland, 06.09.2014. godine
With the outbreak of the crisis, the Federal Reserve decided to relax monetary policy and implement quantitative easing (QE). Expanding the range of assets on the asset side of its balance sheet and abandoning the exclusive use of traditional securities helped to mitigate the negative effects of the crisis and injected nearly USD 4.5 trillion into the world’s largest economy.
The use of new balance-sheet tools by the Fed (to support markets and ensure their normal functioning) has proven to be an effective solution over the past several years. In this way, the Fed has complemented traditional monetary policy instruments by changing the mix of financial assets it holds. Similar tools have been applied by the central banks of Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Switzerland. The idea is for the central bank to inject money by purchasing assets, thereby supplying banks with liquidity that can be channeled into productive purposes (loans to businesses and consumers). The common objective is to stimulate lending.
As of September 3, 2014, this mix consisted of:
- lending to financial institutions (USD 266.4 billion),
- providing liquidity to key credit markets (USD 1.8 billion), and
- purchases of debt securities (USD 2.5 trillion).
The traditional portfolio of securities amounted to USD 363.3 billion, while the remaining USD 1.7 trillion related to purchases of mortgage-backed securities. During the financial crisis, the Fed initially provided financial institutions with access to short-term capital. To ensure that funds flowed from banks into illiquid markets, the Fed required the targeting of specific markets so that they could access both short-term and long-term capital. In order to improve liquidity in the private credit market, the Fed decisively embarked on the purchase of debt securities. Through these actions, the Fed sent a clear signal that it was pursuing a policy of credit easing during the crisis.
The Fed’s quantitative easing includes the purchase of securities as well as the acquisition of U.S. government debt in the form of Treasury bills and bonds. The conservative approach focused on the inflationary impact of monetary expansion has been abandoned, while class interests increasingly dominate – creditors benefit more from low inflation. In the United States, it is believed that creditors are attempting to anchor their preference for “easy money” to a certain doctrine, which has proven to have damaging consequences. Instead of a new policy that would compensate for losses, what has emerged is a paranoia over budget deficits and deflation, accompanied by an increasingly deep economic downturn.
According to statements by President Draghi (September 4, 2014), the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to join the implementation of these tools in the near future. For a long time, however, the ECB has faced caution from Germany, which fears that such measures would delay structural reforms in many Eurozone countries (above all France and Italy) and undermine fiscal discipline (i.e., austerity) and the adjustment of deficit economies within the Eurozone. The ECB has already begun purchasing large-scale assets as a milder version of the QE applied in the United States. In the following month, the ECB will begin purchasing securities, as lowering the key policy rate to a historic low of 0.05% (from 0.15%) and raising the deposit facility rate to 0.02% (from 0.01%) have failed to deliver the desired results, particularly in stimulating regional economies. With an incomplete application of quantitative, i.e. credit, easing, the results in the Eurozone are also expected to be modest.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, September 6, 2014.