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Has quantitative easing really run its course?

Low interest rates imply that central banks will have little ammunition to fight the next economic downturn

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Photo: Getty Images

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, expansionary monetary policy has been the order of the day in most of the major advanced economies.

This approach — comprising deep interest-rate cuts and large-scale asset purchases (quantitative easing, or QE) — has been credited with accelerating the recovery in the US and the UK, and pulling the eurozone back from the brink of collapse.

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