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How Central Banks Manage Currency Pegs Without Breaking Them
Description
Episode 13 of Monetary Policy Explained with Fexingo dives into the mechanics of currency pegs. Lucas and Luna examine the Hong Kong dollar's 43-year link to the US dollar — how the Hong Kong Monetary Authority maintains the peg through automatic interest rate adjustments and reserve management. They contrast this with the 1992 Black Wednesday crisis when the UK was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, and the 2015 Swiss franc shock when the Swiss National Bank suddenly abandoned its cap against the euro. The hosts explain the trilemma of monetary policy — why a fixed exchange rate, free capital flows, and independent monetary policy can't coexist — and why pegs fail when credibility breaks. Specific numbers include the HKMA's $450 billion+ in foreign reserves and the pound's 15% plunge on Black Wednesday. A concrete look at the costs and fragility of fixing a currency.