(Washington) Central banks must “stay the course” and “do more” in order to fight against persistent inflation, said Thursday the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, in an exclusive interview with the AFP.
Updated yesterday at 2:01 p.m.
For now, “the risk is that they don’t do enough, not that they do too much” in the face of inflation which “remains stubborn and persistent”, added Ms.me Georgieva, comparing the rise in prices “to a tax paid by the poorest”.
“If the central banks do not act, we will see a transfer of high energy and food prices to underlying inflation,” insisted the Managing Director of the IMF.
Central banks in major economies, starting with the US central bank (Fed), have raised rates sharply in recent months and expect to continue to do so through to the end of the year and into 2023, with the risk to see the advanced countries plunge into recession.
In a speech given earlier, Mr.me Georgieva acknowledged that reducing inflation “will not be easy and will not be painless”, agreeing in this sense with the warning issued by the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell.
But states can limit the negative impact of these measures through “budgetary policies that must be really targeted”, insisted Mr.me Georgieva, “they must aim at the well-being of people”.
“States must be very careful, with targeted and temporary policies,” added the Managing Director of the IMF. “If you’re driving a car pressing the monetary policy brake and at the same time the fiscal policy accelerator, it’s not going well. »
“If we have only one message: be careful, be careful, fiscal and monetary policies must be coordinated in order to avoid an even more complicated situation in the future,” repeated Mr.me Georgiava.
The boss of the IMF has already taken a position in favor of the fight against inflation led by central banks, judging in particular on Tuesday that the Bank of England had reacted “quickly and in a very appropriate way” after the reaction of the markets to the he announcement, on September 23, of a mini-budget incorporating significant tax cuts.