Another contributing factor was the shift in consumer demand away from services and towards goods during the pandemic – instead of heading to the cinema or the gym, people were ordering laptops and exercise bikes. That left industry struggling to produce enough to keep up in some cases. This has further exacerbated price inflation, both for final products and at upstream stages.
This will not be straightforward, but the IMF’s Multilateral Consultations, which foresee a direct exchange between key members of the global economy, represent a process that should be vigorously developed for this purpose.