Trustnet Magazine 62 May 2020 | Page 11

Your portfolio 20 / 21 [ INFLATION / DEFLATION ] Massive fiscal easing may unleash the forces of inflation on the economy – but deflation could be an even bigger threat, writes Anthony Luzio The price isn’t right One of the most overused metaphors about the coronavirus crisis is that we are “at war” with the pandemic. While the analogy has been stretched to breaking point over the past couple of months, one way in which many analysts accept there are similarities is that when war is financed from an ever-increasing debt pile, rather than taxes, it eventually leads to higher inflation. If you want to know why this is a problem, Sanlam UK’s chief investment officer Phil Smeaton says you should begin by taking a step back and looking at what inflation actually means. TRUSTNET trustnet.com