On balance, professional investors expect inflation to move higher around the world over the next 12 months.

The same investors overwhelmingly expect short-term rates, which is to say policy rates, to be lowered over the same stretch.

See anything wrong with that? I do, although I’ll be the first to suggest that if you’re a policymaker and you’re concerned about the growth outlook, it probably makes sense to cut rates preemptively, if cautiously, as long as inflation’s not north of, call it 3.5%. Because in the presence of faltering growth, inflation usually (note the emphasis) takes care of itself. After all, what is “faltering growth?” It’s slower demand. And what are prices? An outcome of supply and demand.

The figure below’s from the August vintage of BofA’s Global Fund Manager poll, and it shows that earlier this month, a net 18% of panelists saw inflation as biased to the upside looking out a year.

At the same time, a net 78% expect short-term rates to be lower this time next year than they are today. “Inflation expectations rose to a three-month high in August” and investors were the most convinced of lower short-term rates since December, the bank’s Michael Hartnett remarked.

Who cares? Well, nobody really. These are just survey responses. From people who manage a lot of money, sure, but survey responses all the same. It’s just “like, your opinion, man.”

That said, the chart’s notable because these two series historically move in tandem for obvious reasons: You expect lower short-term rates when inflation’s low and vice versa. The divergence illustrated so poignantly by Hartnett’s red circle annotations is unprecedented.

The caveat — and I alluded to this above — is that the pros still harbor significant doubts about the global economy, which accounts for their views on the likely trajectory of policy rates.

Still: The consensus from this poll, easily the most popular of its kind, is that central banks will be cutting rates over the next 12 months in an environment where inflation’s rising. If that’s borne out, it’s perilous.

Small wonder some market participants suspect debasement plays may retain their luster for the foreseeable future.