- July 4, 2022
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Economy
When they gathered in the graceful Portuguese resort of Sintra last week, the west’s top central bankers were anything but. An awkward Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell bemoaned “how little we understand about inflation”. A dazzled European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde lamented the “massive geopolitical shock” of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Andrew Bailey, the gaffe-prone Bank of England governor, talked of a baffling “sea change” in the way economies work.
Many months after bearish commentators were warning of the stubborn upward momentum of prices, this finally was the moment when all three central bankers aligned themselves as monetary policy hawks. Controlling inflation, they reminded the world, was their key focus — though you wouldn’t know it, given price rises are now nudging 10 per cent on both sides of the Atlantic.
To give Powell his due, the Fed has been less behind the curve than its peers. It began its…
