Inflation has become a central feature of the global economy. In Latin America (aside from idiosyncratic cases such as Argentina and Venezuela, where high inflation rates have long been the norm), inflation began to rise the first half of 2021, at the same time it did in the US. The fact that rising inflation has been a synchronized global phenomenon reflects two main causes, both directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated policy response.
In recent weeks, the US dollar has reached 20-year highs against key foreign currencies, and all-time highs against the Chinese renminbi and the British pound. What is sustaining the greenback’s surge, and what are its most significant consequences?
Thirty-five years after former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker left office (and nearly three years after his death), the mere mention of his name still gives shivers to Latin Americans who remember the economic devastation caused by his battle against runaway inflation in the 1980s. With U.S. inflation near a 40-year high, at 8.3 percent in August, Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently signaled policymakers commitment to hiking interest rates further, prompting many to wonder if Latin America is adequately protected against the collateral economic damage of another “Volcker Moment.”
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