In order to escape from this deflationary equilibrium, it was necessary to dispel the deflationary mindset – that is, the entrenched view that prices will not rise – and achieve a state in which firms and households act based on the assumption that prices will continue to rise moderately in the future. In the economics jargon, inflation expectations needed to be raised.
At the same time, the current account balance in the first three quarters of 2019 posted a narrower deficit of $ million from $ billion in the same period in 2018. This positive development was due largely from the lower trade in goods deficit combined with higher net receipts in the trade in services, and in the primary and secondary income accounts.