Final Word from Tuesday, May 9, 2023
As vice governor of the Czech National Bank, Mojmír Hampl was strictly against quantitative easing ... until he wasn't. It was his vote that finally allowed the CNB to devalue the crown on Nov. 7, 2013, and to sharply increase the money supply. It was Hampl himself who flipped the nuclear switch. Likewise, Aleš Michl as both vice governor and governor has been strictly against raising interest rates ... until he won't be. His reversal could come as soon as June 21. He's setting the stage for this by blaming the continued high inflation on the budgetary policies of Petr Fiala's government, but the real issue is similar to the one that Hampl confronted in 2013. Central banks were in a monetary-easing mode then, and anyone who opposed it was excluding himself from the club. Central banks are now in a tightening mode, and Michl needs an excuse to join the club, after making his name as an interest-rate dove. Don't let the domestic politics obscure the bigger issue of global monetary tightening. [ Czech Republic devaluation bickering QT ]
Glossary of difficult words
reversal - a change to an opposite direction, position or course of action;
to ease - (of share prices, interest rates, etc.) to decrease in value or amount;
to obscure - to make unclear and difficult to understand.