How the Strong Dollar Is Squeezing Emerging Market Debt

The Emerging Markets Podcast with Fexingo: Developing Economies, Growth, and Investment · Jul 23, 2026 · 10m · transcript

The U.S. dollar is trading at 120.5 on the trade-weighted index, its highest in years, and that's creating a quiet crisis in emerging markets that borrowed in dollars. Lucas and Luna break down why a stronger dollar makes debt servicing more expensive for countries like Indonesia and Brazil, how central banks from Jakarta to São Paulo are responding, and what the widening U.S. trade deficit—$77.6 billion in May—signals for capital flows. They also look at why Brazil's EWZ ETF is up 3.7% over the past five days despite these headwinds, suggesting investors are betting on a policy…