What's going on?

The OECD upped its inflation forecast for 2022 on Wednesday, but the economic organization thinks there�s a simple thing we can do to fix things: just vaccinate the whole planet.

What does this mean?

There�s good news and bad news. Good news: the OECD admitted that the economic recovery had been much stronger than it anticipated this year. Bad news: the organization reckons the inflation rate across 20 of the biggest economies will hit 4.4% in 2022 � up from its September forecast of 3.9%. And here�s some more bad news for good measure: the OECD said the new Omicron variant might just exacerbate matters, threatening the global recovery even more.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Didn�t your parents teach you to share?
The best way to keep the global recovery on track, the OECD argues, is pretty straightforward: get vaccines in arms around the world. After all, there�s a growing gap in economic growth between the rich countries that have comprehensive access to vaccines and the poor ones that don�t. But there�s hope yet: the organization said on Wednesday that it could cost as little as $50 billion to vaccinate the whole world � a drop in the ocean when you consider the $10 trillion that the world�s 20 biggest economies have spent offsetting the pandemic�s impact.�

Zooming out: The Fed holds its hands up.
The OECD�s US inflation forecast for 2022 was one of the biggest jumps from September, going from 3.1% to 4.4%. Fitting, then, that the Federal Reserve finally admitted earlier this week that higher prices could be around for longer than it thought. That might be why it�s thinking about fully winding down its bond-buying economic support program a few months earlier than it had been planning, in a move that should push up the cost of borrowing and deter spending.