The cause of chronic inflation is continuing increases in the supply of money, which eventually generate inflationary expectations that aggravate and accelerate inflation. Eventually, if unchecked, the inflation runs away into a crack-up boom and destruction of the currency. No belief in any easy way out.

The Bank of Lithuania published the monetary financial institution (MFI) balance sheet and interest rate data for July 2022, which show that:

• loans granted by credit institutions to Lithuanian residents increased by €306.0 million, (+1.2%, over the month, whereas their annual growth rate stood at 15.7%);
• loans to Lithuanian non-financial corporations rose by €138.8 million (+1.5%), and those to households by €130.3 million (+1.0%), their annual growth rate stood at 16.8% and 11.7% respectively;
• loans to Lithuanian households for house purchase, consumption, and other purposes granted by credit institutions increased to €10.9 billion, €883.4 million, and €1.3 billion respectively;
• interest rates on the new business loans granted to households by credit institutions went up by 0.25 percentage points to 3.94%;
• interest rates on loans for house purchase, consumption, and other purposes rose by 0.29 percentage points, 0.16 percentage points, and 0.08 percentage points respectively. In July 2022, interest rates on these loans comprised 2.46%, 8.92%, and 5.28% respectively.

The money supply is the dominant force in changing prices, while the demand for money is reactive either to long-term conditions or to changes in supply. But control over the supply of money is nowadays not in the hands of the free market.