The seminar was held in hybrid format on September 9, 2022, and
was attended by 78 representatives from 17 institutions and
associates of CEMLA, representing 15 countries from Latin
America, the Caribbean, and Canada, 1 European country, and 1
Asian country.
The seminar was jointly organized with the Magyar Nemzeti Bank
and covered the following topics: the current outlook for
inflation, competitiveness and the long-term economic outlook,
liquidity in the banking sector and financial markets under
monetary tightening, and the experiences and implications in
regulatory terms of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Participants discussed the conditions driving the current high
inflation scenario, emphasizing the repercussions of the
COVID-19 crisis and the ongoing war in Ukraine, reflecting on
the different policies enacted to address inflationary
pressures. The discussions highlighted how tighter monetary
policies have put additional strains on bank funding and market
liquidity in smaller economies. Finally, participants discussed
the ongoing developments in CBDCs and other digitization
technologies in the region.
Some relevant takeaways from the seminar were the following:
-
The widespread impacts of the pandemic on the global economy
will
have long-lasting effects. The consequences of the pandemic,
such as
the deterioration of human capital, the change in production
networks, and the changes in preferences of consumers and
workers
will influence the behavior of inflation in the upcoming
years.
-
Competitiveness is still a widely employed concept in the
study of
prosperity. Competitiveness in Latin America face the
challenge of
addressing important historical problems in the region, such
as
income and gender gaps and informality, among others.
-
The adoption of CBDCs or new digitized technologies in
central
banking require an evolving process based on reputation,
simplicity,
accessibility and trustworthiness.
