2021-2022 : Inflation, insécurité et rareté des devises

Abstract

This chapter examines the 2021-2022 period, marked by the August 2021 earthquake, worsening insecurity, fuel shortages, and foreign-exchange scarcity. These shocks amplified inflation, disrupted productive circuits, and intensified pressure on the exchange market. The BRH used conventional instruments: BRH bonds, reserve requirements, policy rates, and foreign-exchange interventions. The chapter shows, however, that these instruments operated mainly defensively. They may have partially contained gourde depreciation, but at the cost of tighter credit and reduced investment margins. Because inflation was largely imported and reinforced by domestic insecurity, the central bank could not control its deeper causes. The chapter thus confirms the rigidity of monetary instruments in the face of a multidimensional crisis.