Since the Great Recession, the monetary base in several advanced economies has seen a considerable increase, driven by the creation of bank reserves at the central bank. Yet, contrary to what had been observed in previous decades, this has not been followed by a significant pick-up of inflation. Following the global financial crisis, the demand of the banking system for central bank reserves increased a lot. This was a reflection of the dire state of the economy and money markets as well as tighter liquidity requirements. Subsequently, quantitative easing caused an increase in reserves on the initiative of the central bank
The resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe has led to new health measures in most countries. Given this difficult situation, the eurozone economy sent some signs of improvement over the last three months, compared to the previous quarter...
The slow rollout of the vaccination programme in Japan can be explained by the fact that the country suffered less than others during the pandemic, and thus adopted lighter restrictions than elsewhere. The slow progress in vaccination has not prevented an improvement in business leaders’ confidence...
Indicators of the strength of the Covid-19 pandemic have continued to rise around the world. With the resurgence of the epidemic in many countries, the gradual tightening of health measures has affected individual mobility...
