Starting in the first half of 2021, COVID-19 lockdowns led to shortages of manufacturing resources such as computer chips along with higher costs for container transport. This resulted in price hikes that also hit consumers directly starting in the summer of 2021. Energy prices began to rise in late 2021.
The Dutch central bank is one the leading institutions with regard to research in the field of cash management in the Eurosystem and I look forward to hearing more about the various links between research and operational aspects. No doubt, there is currently a rather active strand of research into distributed ledger technologies and various forms of digital money.