La croissance monétaire et la poussée inflationniste post-pandémie

The strength of the link between money growth and inflation depends on the inflation regime: it is one-to-one when inflation is high and virtually non-existent when it is low. A link was also clearly visible in the risk of moving from a low to a high-inflation regime in the aftermath of the pandemic. A surge in money growth preceded the inflation flare-up in 2021-2022, as countries with stronger money growth saw markedly higher inflation. Moreover, keeping an eye on money growth would have helped to improve inflation forecasts. The disinflation that began in most countries in mid-2022 was also preceded by a marked decline in money growth. However, over this second sub-period, the cross-country link between money growth and inflation is visible only if countries with very high inflation rates are included in the sample. All this indicates that money growth does convey information about inflation, but that it cannot be easily used in a reliable way. JEL classification: E31, E51, E58.