The unwinding of balance sheets and its implications

The Fed and the ECB are leading the way in the reduction of balance sheets. — Bloomberg

First things first. This is this column’s 300th publication since the first article was published in June 2018 and I would like to thank Star Media Group for giving me this opportunity to explore and discuss various issues related to the economy, market, finance, corporate governance and different asset classes. For this week, the focus is on the central bank’s balance sheet.

After peaking at just over US$30 trillion in early 2022, the size of the four main central banks’ balance sheets has now shrunk to approximately US$25.8 trillion in the latest filing, with both the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) leading the way in the reduction.