WASHINGTON, October 17. /TASS/. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is recording a significant decrease in the global inflation rate, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
"The big global inflation wave is in retreat. A combination of resolute monetary policy action, easing supply chain constraints, and moderating food and energy prices is guiding us back in the direction of price stability," she noted speaking at the IMF ahead of the autumn session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank, which will be held next week.
Georgieva showed a chart indicating global inflation falling from around 14% in 2022 to less than 4% this year.
"And this has been done without tipping the global economy into recession and large-scale job losses—something we saw during the pandemic and after past inflation episodes, and which many feared we would see again. Both the US and euro area labor markets, to take two examples, are cooling in an orderly manner," she said.
Nevertheless, the IMF Chief noted, that "inflation rates may be falling, but the higher price level that we feel in our wallets is here to stay."
"Families are hurting, people are angry. Advanced economies saw inflation rates at once-in-a-generation highs. So too did many emerging market economies. But look how bad the situation was for the low-income countries. At the country level and at the level of individuals, inflation always hits the poor the hardest," Georgiyeva added.
According to her, "the picture is made more troubling by high and rising public debt—way higher than before the pandemic, even after the brief but significant fall in debt-to-GDP as inflation lifted nominal GDP." At the chart presented by the IMF Chief one can see that the ratio of public debt of all countries to global GDP will exceed 100% in the coming years. She added that in an unfavorable development of events, this figure could reach 120% in the same time frame.