Tariff Liberalization Policy and Financial Restrictions

The purpose of this paper is to assess how restrictions on capital mobility affect adjustment to a tariff liberalization policy. This is done by comparing the adlustment process under free and restricted convertibility of foreign assets in a regime where the commercial exchange rate is pegged. It is shown that trade liberalization causes in the short run a larger drop in domestic goods prices and a smaller current account deficit in a regime with restricted convertibility. Similar results apply also for the long-run current account effects of the liberalization: they are smaller under financial restrictions.