Why The Dollar Poses A Global Headache 6: Recurring Crises
As long as the world relies on a reserve currency that is distributed by banks, global USD crises will occur. FIMA is but a band aid over a systemic problem.
As long as the world relies on a reserve currency that is distributed by banks, global USD crises will occur. FIMA is but a band aid over a systemic problem.
Everyone’s need for Dollars, and their inability to print them, led ex-US Treasury Secretary John Connally to call the USD “our currency, but your problem”.
In a crisis, foreign central banks sell their foreign reserves to provide their banking systems with USDs – but having more reserves isn’t always better.
Foreign governments are very aware of the problems posed by having to use the USD, and try to preempt them by stashing their USDs. How and why does this happen?
Shouldn’t a shortage of USTs for use as collateral only affect the US, and not the global economy? No – not when the USD is the global reserve currency.
As the USD enters 2022 broadly stronger, it’s a good time to understand the headache it poses. After all, a stronger USD foreshadows the next global crisis.
USD shortages can quickly morph into global economic crises, like in 2008 and 2020. But authorities keep prescribing policies that undermine more than help.
Do trillions in fiscal stimulus and central bank QE mean that the head of the IMF’s concerns about a potential EM debt crisis will not come to pass?
Are recent acute liquidity problems in the Treasury market due to recent narratives focused on inflation? Or is there something more going on, like in repo?
Liquidity is what truly matters in the Repo market, and when it dries up, all other financial markets fall into chaos, as ‘08 and ‘20 both demonstrated.