War

The year 2022 began as one of great uncertainty. A timid economic recovery cooled off in the third quarter of 2021, and the US economy, with its gigantic fiscal deficits, failed to pick up steam. Russia's tensions with Ukraine have grown, and there needs to be a sense of how it can be solved. China has grown steadily, and the Asian countries have performed well, counterbalancing the slowdown in the G7 economies. Inflation rose sharply in the US and had no ceiling. Against this backdrop, year 22 began with surprises and a realisation. The surprise was that their currencies depreciate when the Fed moves the interest rate for the first time if the other central banks do not do so simultaneously. That cost the Euro a 23% drop against the dollar. Second, the addition of economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine operation became the opportunity of a lifetime for China to consolidate an Eastern financial architecture. Finally, with the world already fragmented, the US opted firmly for import substitution policies and the de-globalisation that goes with them; while the Asian bloc led by China is advancing with its growth and globalisation.

Since the late 2020s, the world began to experience a sustained rise in inflation that has not stopped. As the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic began to subside, the world experienced a sustained increase in price levels that has not stopped. The Russian military operation on Ukrainian territory has become a further force pushing up prices globally. While several commodity-exporting countries see rising commodity prices as an opportunity to improve their external economic balances, they will also have to face the pressure that prices will put on them.

Sanctions on Russia stemming from the war with Ukraine will affect the European and Western economies and could strengthen Sino-Russian relations. In the consequences of the war's non-Armis strategies, Western hegemonic strength and the global consolidation of the Eurasian bloc led by China and Russia would be at stake.