Beneficiary of the Financial Liberalization Essay

Beneficiary of the Financial Liberalization - Essay Example Financial liberalization involves reduction of regulations and involvement of regulatory agencies in the financial system of a given country or region. It refers to the ‘deregulation of domestic financial markets and the liberalization of the capital account’ (Ranciere, Tornell & Westermann, n.d, p.1). The financial system broadly refers to the lending system in a given country and includes the players like banking institutions, the central bank, the treasury in a country, or the money markets authorities. Financial liberalizations will have varying effects on the players in different industries at the national, regional, or international levels. While some economies may suffer the negative consequences of financial liberalizations, other players in the economy will benefit from the initiative. This paper focuses on the likely beneficiary/beneficiaries of financial liberalization. Some financial reforms Financial liberalization measures can comprise both internal regulat ions (imposed by the central banks within a country) and external regulations effected by the regional and international agencies or the regulatory agencies in foreign countries. Internal FL measures are many. ... ludes a state’s withdrawal from involvement in financial intermediation (Ghosh, 2005), which is characterized by the transformation of development banks into regular financial institutions and privatization of publicly owned banking system. Financial liberalization also involves creating a relaxed environment for investors and firms to participate in the stock market through dilution of the listing conditions as well as relaxed regulation on the financial instruments to be used or acquired within a given financial system (Ghosh, 2005). A liberalized economy will also be characterized by better access to financial sources. Thus, internal financial liberalization also includes improving access to funds by the financial agents and firms and removing regulations on the kind of investments that can be made by these financial agents (Ghosh, 2005). External financial liberalization may include steps like allowing foreigners to own domestic financial assets, allowing domestic resident s to own foreign financial assets, or allowing free trade of foreign currency asset within the domestic economy (Ghosh, 2005). Who gains from financial liberalisation? Financial liberalization has positive and negative impacts on the economic development in a given country. While it can promote financial deepening and increased economic growth of a country, it can also lead to financial crisis in other countries resulting from increased macroeconomic volatility and excessive risk taking (Ranciere, Tornell, & Westermann, N.d). Financial repression, caused by governments’ interventions in the financial sector, leads to low economic growth and poor allocation efficiency in countries with negative interest rates and vice versa for positive interest rates (Caprio, Honohan & Stiglitz, 2006, p.5).