"Reference News" recently published an article from Bloomberg News website, "saying goodbye to loose monetary policy when the hawkish central bank accelerates the pace of interest rate hike". The article is summarized as follows: Two years after COVID-19 made the global economy in recession, central bank governors are withdrawing the emergency support policy, which moves faster than expected. The Federal Reserve is preparing to raise interest rates in March, the Bank of England has just raised interest rates in a row, and the European Central Bank may join the action later this year. In emerging markets, many central banks have raised interest rates since last year. Last week, Brazil raised its benchmark interest rate by 1.5 percentage points. Mexico and Peru are expected to extend monetary tightening. JPMorgan Chase expects the global average interest rate to be about 2% by the end of this year, roughly equivalent to the level before the epidemic. Aditia Bawei, an economist at Bank of America, said recently that the surge in global inflation has driven the central bank's interest rate hike cycle and the contraction of its balance sheet. What drives inflation is the contradiction between the surging demand in the economy after the end of the epidemic blockade and the shortage of some important commodities, raw materials and labor supply. A few months ago, most officials also considered price pressures "temporary", welcomed the rapid rebound in employment and ignored the inflation warnings sounded by some commentators. Policymakers now conclude that inflation is persistent. Morgan chase economist, represented by Bruce Casemen, said that with the fact that the economy is facing the variation of COVID-19's strain, the unemployment rate and the recovery of service demand may continue to push up inflation. Some economists and investors warned that the central bank remained "slow to respond". But if inflation begins to subside with the recovery of supply chains and the cooling of commodity markets, a rapid increase in interest rates now may be counterproductive, making the policy setting suddenly appear too tight. (Xinhua News Agency)