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The end of easy money is upon us.

Two years after the pandemic sent the global economy into a deep but short recession, central bankers are withdrawing their emergency support -- and they’re moving faster than they or most investors had foreseen.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing to raise interest rates in March, and last Friday’s jobs report fueled speculation it may need to move aggressively. The Bank of England just delivered back-to-back hikes, and some of its officials wanted to act even more forcefully. The Bank of Canada is set for liftoff next month. Even the European Central Bank may get in on the action later this year.

Rates are rising because policy makers judge that the global inflation shock now poses a bigger threat than further damage to growth from Covid-19. Some say it took them far too long to reach that conclusion. Others worry that the hawkish turn could slow recoveries without offering much relief from high prices, given that some of the surge is related to supply problems beyond the reach of monetary policy.

There are a couple of outliers among the biggest economies.

The People’s Bank of China appears headed in the opposite direction. It’s likely to make credit cheaper as new virus outbreaks and a property slump cloud prospects for the world’s second-largest economy. And the Bank of Japan is expected to keep policy unchanged this year, though traders are starting to wonder if it can hold the line.

In the emerging markets, many central banks started raising rates last year -- and they’re not done yet.