> A major reason for the increases is that central bankers around the world — including those at the Federal Reserve — sought to compensate for Covid-19 lockdowns with dramatic monetary inflation. As a result, nearly $4 trillion in newly printed dollars, euros, and yen found their way from central banks into the coffers of global financial institutions.

Central banks create reserves, which are only good in the inter-bank system, and never enter general circulation. Money is created by private banks via credit. See Roche:

* https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625

And no, reserves don't determine credit creation. The 'money multiplier' hasn't been true for several decades:

* https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2021...?