While assertions of debt constraints on monetary policy have been documented in the literature, empirical investigation into this phenomenon remains egregiously limited, with the only study using the Generalized Method of Moments that fails to provide confidence intervals for the threshold estimate. We examine whether or not high debt levels constrain the interest rate setting behaviour of the Bank of Ghana, with the aid of sample splitting and a threshold estimation technique that overcomes the weaknesses of previous studies. We find that monetary policy response to inflation gap in the high debt regime (above the debt to gross domestic product [GDP] threshold of 35.1%) is woefully disproportionate, a key indication of debt constraint and inflation accommodation by a central bank that is supposed to be targeting inflation. Important policy recommendations are proffered.

中文翻译：

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加纳银行的利率设定行为是否受到高债务水平的约束？

尽管文献中已记录了对货币政策的债务约束主张，但对这一现象的实证研究仍然非常有限，只有使用广义矩量法的研究未能为阈值估计提供置信区间。我们借助样本拆分和克服了先前研究的弱点的阈值估计技术，研究了高债务水平是否约束了加纳银行的利率设定行为。我们发现，货币政策对高债务体制（高于债务占国内生产总值[GDP]阈值35.1％的通胀）缺口的反应严重不相称，这是中央银行债务约束和通货膨胀调节的关键指标针对通胀。