COVER STORY Commodities
“ We are seeing inflationary data increase and commodities have traditionally been a core way for investors to both protect themselves from this but also benefit from such trends ”
Olivia Markham Co-manager of the BlackRock GF World Mining fund
In contrast to the response to the financial crisis , policymakers are focusing on fiscal rather than monetary easing to aid the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic . For example , US president Joe Biden ’ s $ 2trn plan to upgrade the nation ’ s infrastructure was approved in August . This will require huge quantities of copper , nickel and silver , according to Hamad Ebrahim , head of research at NTree International .
Aside from increasing demand for natural resources , fiscal easing is one of the factors boosting inflation . The BlackRock Investment Institute notes there are further reasons to believe an environment of rising prices can persist through 2021 : rising global production costs , the central bank policy shift to allow for inflation to overshoot targets , and political
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