Why don't countries just print money rather than borrow?

[Fidelia]

Countries have the means to print or mint money. But they would always rather borrow. Why don't countries just print more money to buy whatever they want to buy instead of having to take loans from other countries?

 

[magnus2022]

Though, am not a economist but i believe that to print more money will induce inflation and create surplus thereby damaging the socioeconomic of the country. Borrowing from another country will not directly impact the economic of country immediately but overtime if it is not repaid.

 

[Webster]

Countries have the means to print or mint money. But they would always rather borrow. Why don't countries just print more money to buy whatever they want to buy instead of having to take loans from other countries?

Printing money does two things, (1) it devalues the currency already in existence (more money=lower value) and (2) it causes inflation to rise (which is what happened during the pandemic when the U.S. printed a few extra trillion in U.S. currency).

 

[Augusta]

Borrowing money ensures the country has enough foreign exchange reserves to pay for its imports and avoid a balance of payments crisis.

 

[King Belieal]

When a country tries to print more money more than the value it can offer, the currency would end up being worthless. The value of the currency is also in it's scarcity in circulation.

 

[aninditasen]

Countries have the means to print or mint money. But they would always rather borrow. Why don't countries just print more money to buy whatever they want to buy instead of having to take loans from other countries?

This cannot be as each country has to take permission from a common forum to mint money.

 

[eLdavis]

While this might be a quick fix, it often leads to inflation, and even a devaluation of the currency as well.

 

[King Belieal]

There is no way that haphazard printing of money won't affect the economy of a country. It always makes the currency to lose value so much. Zimbabwe tried it and they haven't been able to recover since then.