Beyond deregulation, innovative technologies, especially information technologies, have contributed critically to enhanced flexibility. A quarter-century ago, for example, companies often required weeks to discover the emergence of inventory imbalances, allowing production to continue to exacerbate the excess. Excessive stockbuilding, in turn, necessitated a deeper decline in output than would have been necessary had the knowledge of the status of inventories been fully current.
The latest observations are for the second quarter of 2020 for realised data and the fourth quarter of 2022 for projections. The pandemic shock has left its mark on inflation dynamics.