In July, the ECB issued its first Strategic Review since 2003. The latest CfM-CEPR survey investigates one component of the announced policy shift: the new definition of price stability. Most members of the panel of experts on the European economy support the ECB explicitly allowing inflation to exceed its target for extended periods to make up for below-target inflation in
Raphael Auer, Rainer Böhme
Central banks across the world are starting to experiment with digital currencies. A 2021 BIS Survey of central banks “has found that 86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects” (BIS 2021). Just last year, the Bahamas became the first country to introduce a CBDC nationwide (the sand dollar) and in April, the Eastern Caribbean became the first currency union central bank to issue digital cash.
1 Overall, the BIS reports that at least 46 central banks are currently actively designing or planning for the possible introduction of digital currencies (Auer et al. 2020). This year, the Bank of England and the Treasury announced the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to explore a potential UK CBDC.