The roles played by the US dollar and the euro in the global monetary and financial system have remained broadly unaltered since 2007–2008, despite signs of a gradual ascent of the Chinese renminbi. This was also true, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent, during the acute phase of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011–2012.
The so-called “Great Recession” from which we are just emerging had the potential to replicate the dire experience of the 1930s. However, while the reverberations of the recent experience are far from finished, the aggressive and timely actions of global central banks, including the Bank of Canada, have not only averted the worst, but also created the prospect of a sustained recovery.