Monthly monetary update
Every month, the Institute of International Monetary Research produces a series of notes analysing the latest monetary trends in the world's largest economies - the USA, China, Japan, India, the UK and the Eurozone - along with an accompanying video.
If you are looking for research from previous years, please go to our Monetary Updates Archive page.
Our most recent regular monthly money note (May 2026) can be accessed here and the latest video (May 2026) here.
May 2026 Summary
In the USA commercial banks’ deposits have grown strongly in recent months, with the annualised rate of increase in the three months to April being over 10%. In qualification, 2025’s boom in money market mutual funds stopped in the first quarter of 2026, even though the Trump administration continues to run an enormous budget deficit. Money growth slowed in China during April. By contrast, the Indian banking system continues to grow at annual rates in the mid-teens %. With these three economies accounting for over 40% of world output (and indeed about 50% on world output measured after adjustment for purchasing power parity), the world economy was heading for above-trend growth in 2026 before the shock of the Iran war. The Iran war will reduce output growth and raise the price level in 2026, but the prospect has to be that – in the medium run - international pressure will open the Strait of Hormuz and the war’s economic effects will be minor. Inflation in 2028 and/or 2029 will be low, as energy prices fall back. Money growth in the Eurozone, Japan and the UK has picked up slightly but remains moderate – or even slow.