In these  2  BIS Review 41/2005  cases, adjustment is postponed - in both surplus and deficit countries. But the adjustment and its costs are only delayed, they are not avoided. Indeed, the costs typically end up being larger than they would otherwise be, precisely because they have been delayed.
The only way to truly minimize the costs of adjustment is to allow nominal exchange rates to move around. The ability of a flexible exchange rate to help with economic adjustment was a major factor behind Canada's decision to float its currency in 1950. By the end of the 1990s, most industrialized economies and a number of emerging-market economies had done the same.