What Drives Inflation-Output Tradeoff Dynamics in Pakistan? An Assessment of International Linkages and Global Trends

Abstract

This article illustrates the dynamics of and tradeoff between inflation and output in Pakistan by utilizing data on 18 major trading partners in a cointegration analysis. In doing so, we use key features of the global vector autoregressive approach to construct a model that captures foreign-specific variables related to Pakistan; these are analyzed empirically along with domestic data for the period 1972–2014. Our findings show that, after accounting for the impact of increasing interdependencies, trade spillovers and changing global macroeconomic conditions, a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between domestic inflation and output. The foreign variables have a significant impact on the key domestic variables. In particular, domestic inflation and trade openness, foreign inflation and world oil prices have significant explanatory power for Pakistani output. Policymakers in Pakistan should therefore account for global developments, specifically in trading partner economies.