During the course of this recovery, global economic activity has risen strongly and is now back above its pre-crisis level. At the same time, price increases accelerated noticeably and on a broad scale. Multiple factors were behind this acceleration. For one thing, energy prices rebounded as the world economy recovered from the pandemic-induced recession.
According to the new strategy, price stability is best maintained by pursuing at a 2% symmetric inflation target over the medium term. The old inflation target of ‘below, but close to 2%’, which was valid until July 2021, was less precise, and open to interpretation.