There must always be a balancing flow. Your country has to be doing something to get the foreign currency required for that import. This could be exporting more of something else, or it could be attracting more foreign investment (or more aid), but there must be a balance. Your mercantilist intuition is a common one but it is mistaken.
Ugh, yes of course if you got richer you got the money from somewhere. If you thought I thought otherwise, you were mistaken. (Of course it could’ve just been printed by the government, but that will cause inflation if not balanced by some kind of in-country value creation or spending reduction.) (Edit: also, Google tells me “Mercantilism was based on the principle that the world’s wealth was static” and I do not have any such “mercantilist intuition”.)
There must always be a balancing flow. Your country has to be doing something to get the foreign currency required for that import. This could be exporting more of something else, or it could be attracting more foreign investment (or more aid), but there must be a balance. Your mercantilist intuition is a common one but it is mistaken.
Ugh, yes of course if you got richer you got the money from somewhere. If you thought I thought otherwise, you were mistaken. (Of course it could’ve just been printed by the government, but that will cause inflation if not balanced by some kind of in-country value creation or spending reduction.) (Edit: also, Google tells me “Mercantilism was based on the principle that the world’s wealth was static” and I do not have any such “mercantilist intuition”.)