More than 100 countries have fixed exchange rates – although the effect on French Polynesia and Chad of being pegged to the euro is not widely reported. Some economies, such as Panama, are more or less dollarised (or, in the case of Andorra, “euro-ised”). Many currencies are strictly fixed, while others move within trading bands that allow a little more flexibility. Dollar or euro pegs are the most common, although many countries, including Russia and China, use a basket of currencies.

But with the dollar at eight-year lows against the euro, the creaking of some fixed exchange rates is growing louder. A big concern is whether countries in the Middle East and Asia will abandon the dollar pegs that are holding their currencies down. Oil exporters, with huge current account surpluses, are watching inflation tick up but are constrained in their use of monetary policy. The problem is similar in China’s, but swap oil for toys. So far, in most of the dollar block, inflationary pressures have not been intense enough to provoke action, although Kuwait switched to a blended currency peg in May.