The writer is a senior research fellow at Chatham House and is a former head of emerging markets economics at Citi
When global inflationary pressures started to surge in early 2021, central banks in emerging markets were, famously, the first to respond: the Brazilian, Russian and Turkish central banks raised rates in March that year, followed soon by a raft of others.
Central banks in developed countries, by contrast, moved much more slowly. It was only in March 2022 that the US Federal Reserve first increased rates, followed in July that year by the European Central Bank. One might think that emerging economies should have been rewarded with an early and decisive win in the race against inflation, having been so quick out of their starting blocks.