monetary policy

Globally, inflation closed 2021 at its highest level in the last twenty years (40 years in the case of the US) and projections indicate that during 2022. However, even if it is lower than last year, we will continue to see it high in 2022. Why is it a top concern for governments, central banks and consumers?

Governments are concerned that central banks will speed up the normalization of interest rates in the face of high inflation rates. This would put a brake on economic recovery and job creation and, in some cases, would cause the deterioration of the fiscal balances of some countries that acquired debt to mitigate the effects of the economic contraction or slowdown.

The strategies followed by governments and central banks to control inflation will determine the economic conditions of the coming years and the ability of the world to recover from the economic contraction of 2020.

The reasoning of modern monetary theory holds that countries with reserve currencies can maintain unlimited levels of fiscal deficits and public debt because they have financing available. The evidence, however, shows that massive deficits do not mean economic dynamism in the US.

After 2008, federal deficits have doubled from about 60% of GDP to about 120%. Emerging nations shift their resources to China through the US deficit instead of growing, since the world is one and the borders are all open, and trade is unrestricted.

US debt in nominal amounts is more than that of the rest of the world combined. So monetary inflation exists and hits first the most deficit countries, then the least, and finally the rest of the world as imported inflation.

One year after the global closure due to COVID-19, exchange rates responded to financial markets more than to macroeconomic conditions. This is due to the depth that financialization has reached in the economy and the influence that the Fed's policies have on international markets.

Unlike the textbooks, where exchange rates are a reflection of economic growth, inflation and international reserves, the relationship of the exchange rate with these national variables is increasingly questionable.

Central bank intervention in exchange rates has been minimal. When the exchange rate responds more to financial variables than to real ones, the depth and degree of development of each country's financial sector is more important.