Question

Last year both a borrower and a lender expected an inflation rate of 3 percent when they signed a long-term loan agreement with fixed nominal interest rates of 5 percent. If the actual inflation rate were lower than expected, then which of the following would be true?A. The borrower would benefit.B. The lender would benefit.C. The real interest rate would be lower than expected.D. The nominal interest rate would be higher than expected.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. The lender would benefit.

Explanation:

Based on the information provided within the question it can be said that in this scenario the one who would benefit from a lower inflation rate would be the lender. That is because by there being a lower inflation rate it means that the money that the borrower needs to pay back the loan does not have the buying power he predicted it would have when he borrowed it. Meaning that he would need to pay more money to the lender than originally anticipated.

Answer 2

Answer:

A. The borrower will benefit

Explanation:

The borrower benefits in the sense that the anticipated margin that took a 3% inflation rate into consideration will be smaller than the actual margin when the loan is repaid due to the prevailing inflation rate being smaller than anticipated. In simple English, the value of money the borrower gets at the time of repayment is higher than what was anticipated based on the expected inflation rates