IMF sees interest rates remaining high for ‘quite some time’

Emerging markets face a more volatile and uncertain future, and must rebuild fiscal buffers, boost revenues, diversify trade and gird for trillions of dollars in annual climate change costs, the International Monetary Fund’s No. 2 official said on Friday.
IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath told the biennial conference of the South African Reserve Bank that external conditions had become more challenging for emerging markets due to rising geopolitical fragmentation, tough financial conditions and the growing costs of climate change.
She said in remarks prepared for the conference, “The pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have raised legitimate concerns about supply chain security and broader national security.” Extreme weather events related to climate change could also result in huge long-term costs at a time when debt payments were already rising sharply, with some studies forecasting mitigation needed of $2 trillion annually by 2030.