The Impact of Interest Rate Movement on Consumption and Output

Abstract

Interest rate is considered one of the most important tools of monetary policy in Egypt, and it is the most used to maintain price stability and tackle inflation, here we study its effect on consumption and income in an econometric technique. This research is concerned with the study of the impact of interest rate shocks as an indicator of monetary policy on household consumption and Income in Egypt during the period from 1980 to 2018. The research applies the quantitative analysis approach and uses the econometric model to deduce results and uses a Small Structural Vector Autoregressive Model (SVAR). The research concludes that one standard deviation shock in interest rate shrinks consumption, but this very small and fast decrease is almost insignificant, while income initially increases in response to this positive shock. On the other hand, a negative shock in consumption causes a reduction in interest rate. the research also indicated a mutual relationship between consumption and income