Are Government Budget Deficits Inflationary? Evidence from Pakistan

In academia as well as policy-making institutions, there has been a long standing interest in analysing the phenomenon of inflation. Amongst the possible determinants of inflation, budget deficits may be one whose importance might have grown since the oil price hikes of 1973-74 and in 1979. For many a developing countries these increases in oil price have been responsible for the massive current account deficits as well as rapidly increasing domestic budget deficits of the last decade or so. During the 1980s, the budget deficit for Pakistan also grew rapidly reaching a record high of 8.6 percent of the G D P in 1987-88. Lately in the backdrop of the recent structural adjustment programmes, there has been much interest in determining the optimal size and the macro economic role of the budget deficits. However, despite its growing importance, the effects of budget deficits are not well understood.