Calls, even screams, to fight inflation above all else are getting shriller. Thankfully, even
The Economist (5 Feb. 2022) reminds all,
Fighting inflation could put the world in a slump.
No inflation consensus
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva
doubts the world faces a runaway inflation threat. She urges policymakers to carefully calibrate fiscal and monetary policies, with more “specificity”, as not ‘one size fits all’.
Inflation hawks are winning the day. The latest ‘beggar thyself’ race to raise interest rates has begun. This ostensibly responds to the spectre of runaway inflation, supposedly retarding economic growth and progress, and thus threatening central bank ‘credibility’.
The bogey of inflation has been revived. Dubious pre-pandemic economic progress, fiscal constraints and vaccine apartheid were bad enough. Now, ostensibly anti-inflationary measures also threaten recovery and sustainable development.