Monetary policy is an important available tool for governments to pursuit macroeconomic objectives. However, the recent financial crisis has revealed the weaknesses of the conventional monetary policy framework. Monetary policy has been found to be a prominent cause of financial instability. Inability of expansionary monetary policy to induce new lending in many economies is considered as evidence of the impairment of conventional monetary policy transmission mechanism. Additionally, the post-crisis diagnostics have revealed that monetary policy failed to address asset market imbalances. A large number of these studies have focused on the reforms of the conventional system. Some suggest major structural changes while others in frastructural. This concept paper is an attempt to search for an alternative and more efficient monetary policy framework, which is also Shariah compliant for Malaysia. It will also propose risk sharing instruments as substitute monetary policy tools.

Monetary policy is an important available tool for governments to pursuit macroeconomic objectives. However, the recent financial crisis has revealed the weaknesses of the conventional monetary policy framework. Monetary policy has been found to be a prominent cause of financial instability. Inability of expansionary monetary policy to induce new lending in many economies is considered as evidence of the impairment of conventional monetary policy transmission mechanism. Additionally, the post-crisis diagnostics have revealed that monetary policy failed to address asset market imbalances. A large number of these studies have focused on the reforms of the conventional system. Some suggest major structural changes while others infrastructural. This concept paper is an attempt to search for an alternative and more efficient monetary policy framework, which is also Shariah-compliant for Malaysia. It will also propose risk-sharing instruments as substitute monetary policy tools.

The current macroeconomic policies in Malaysia follow conventional model based on the risk-transfer and/or risk-shifting paradigm, as opposed to risk-sharing principles proposed in Islamic finance. Malaysia’s monetary policy relies and operates through short-term interest rates which is currently called the overnight policy rate (OPR) to achieve price stability. In order to become a global leader and an indisputable global hub for Islamic finance, there is a need to develop an alternative monetary policy framework for Malaysia that is Shariahbased. One of the key elements in doing so is to come up with an alternative Islamic Pricing Benchmark (IPB) that is free from interest rates. Here, we consider using equity risk premium, which is an important concept in promoting risk-sharing through equity participation. This paper aims to investigate whether equity premium could be an incentive structure for adopting Shariah-based monetary policy. After calculating the historical equity premium in Malaysia in the 1980-2011 period, the data is used to simulate the proposed monetary framework and compared with the results of the present conventional policy framework. We conclude that equity risk premium is not statistically significant as a proxy to be used in Islamic monetary policy framework in Malaysia. However, we propose Return on Equity (ROE) as a better alternative to replace the interest rate.

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