Dangerous crossroads: Extraordinary steps have the habit of becoming habits

Printing money to fund crisis measures is not without risk; countries like the US might get away with it, but the price for excess is always greater for a developing country, writes T N Ninan

Everyone now wants the government to do more: More relief measures for up to 100 million people who have lost their livelihoods, revival packages for businesses, financial help to states, more spending on public health, and so on. The experts are also coming around to near-unanimity on how to finance all this. Since there is no fiscal headroom, simply print money and spend it on the poor and to save troubled businesses. The usual price to be paid for what would be considered highly irresponsible behaviour in normal circumstances is inflation, or a foreign exchange crisis (such as happened in