But several years of ultra-loose monetary policy in the advanced countries has led to significant liquidity spillover abroad, putting excessive upward pressure on higher-yielding developing countries’ currencies. With developing countries finding it difficult to deter massive capital inflows or mitigate the effects – owing to economic constraints, like high inflation, or to domestic politics – the “currency wars” metaphor, coined in 2010 by Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, has resonated widely.