IMF wags its finger at central banks – but are they listening?

Kristalina Georgieva said inflation is ‘a threat to financial stability and a tax on ordinary people’. Photograph: Noushad Thekkayil/EPA

International agencies saw their influence wane after the 2008 financial crash as the support for multilateral agreements gave way to quick-fix solutions between governments. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which hold their joint spring meetings next week, have suffered like many others.

So when the IMF boss, Kristalina Georgieva, wags a finger at the major central banks – the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the People’s Bank of China, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England – the question is: are any of them listening?