The “currency war” is over, thanks to rising food price inflation and the uprisings in the Arab world, BNP Paribas Investment Partners has declared.

Guido Mantega, the Brazilian finance minister, attracted global headlines when he declared in September that the world was in an “international currency war” as governments across the planet fought to weaken their currencies in order to promote economic competitiveness.

In the ensuing months, a swathe of emerging market countries, including Brazil, Thailand and South Korea, introduced capital controls to attempt to stem portfolio inflows threatening to push their currencies higher, creating barriers for foreign investment houses. Some other states stepped up market intervention in order to hold their currencies stable.