Have you ever wondered what the drivers of an economy are? It is a common norm to find analysts, economists and those working in financial sector discussing or monitoring closely the GDP, Inflation and unemployment. As such, this article will help to answer some of the questions concerning the drivers of economic performance which you might have come across but did not know how to respond to them.
The workforce of a country is an integral part of the country that contributes greatly to the growth of an economy. In most countries, people that are considered eligible workforce age between 18-65 years. When the workforce combines with capital resources and technology, they form the GDP of the nation. It should be noted that an increase in the above inputs results to high economic growth.
The other driver of the economy is the fiscal and monetary policies that the government normally applies to control the capital and investment flows, inflation and unemployment. When the interest rates in a country are low, there is more investment that results to increased demand for money and inflation. When the levels of inflation rise to certain limits which consequently affect adversely employment, the government intervenes through the monetary and fiscal policies.
Increasing interest rates would result to low investment in the country but result to more savings by the consumers. Just like the interest rates, capital inflows would attract foreign demand for the currency of that country due to the high savings rate. The government will hence use the monetary policy to curb the excess appreciation of the currency to make it compete effectively with foreign peers, especially when that particular nation is dependent on exports. As such, it is crucial that a country ensures that it has in place measures that will create employment and monetary and fiscal policies that will help in driving the economy forward.