Central Banks
IMF Warns Central Banks Must Be Free of Election-Year Political Pressures
- Georgieva urges policy makers stay focused on taming inflation
- Monetary policy independence helps stability, fund chief says
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Central banks must follow through on the fight against inflation and resist political pressure to cut borrowing costs, the head of the International Monetary Fund cautioned, as more than 60 nations hold elections this year, including the US, UK and India.
Kristalina Georgieva, the fund’s managing director, is urging policy makers to withstand demands for premature interest-rate reductions, which she predicts will intensify as half the world’s population votes in 2024. Greater central bank independence, she wrote in a blog post published Thursday, better protects price stability, which is key for economies to flourish.