The use by the government or central bank of interest rates or controls on the money supply to influence the economy. The target of monetary policy may be the achievement of a desired level or rate of growth in real activity, the price level, the exchange rate, or the balance of payments. Methods of monetary policy include setting the interest rate charged by the central bank, sales or purchases of securities to control the money supply, and changes in the required reserve ratios of banks and other financial institutions. The central bank can affect other interest rates both through open market operations to affect the probability that banks are going to need to borrow at its own lending rate, and by the announcement effects of changes in the central bank’s minimum lending rate, which are regarded by the markets as statements about the authorities’ forecasts and objectives. Monetary policy works through the effects of the cost and availability of loans on real activity, and through this on inflation, and on international capital movements and thus on the exchange rate. Central bank and government pronouncements on monetary and other economic questions can be effective in reinforcing practical measures of monetary policy, but do not provide a substitute for them.