
The world is still, in a sense, swimming in cash. Or at least the electronic equivalent: central-bank reserves. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a club of central banks, estimates that the balance-sheets of rich-country central banks amount to roughly 50% of collective GDP. That is down from 70% in 2021—a reduction which reflects quantitative tightening (QT), or the offloading of assets acquired while easing—but is still far above the pre-global-financial-crisis norm of around 10%.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Break the safe”

From the July 6th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Comments
Post a Comment