Central bankers must be persistent in their fight against widespread inflation, International Monetary Fund Director General Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, acknowledging that many economists were wrong to predict inflation would ease last year, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

“Inflation is stubborn, it’s more widespread than we think… This means we need central bankers who will be as stubborn in fighting it as they have been with inflation,” Georgieva said.

The IMF director added that if fiscal and monetary policies work well, next year could be less painful. But if fiscal policy is not targeted enough, it can become “the enemy of monetary policy, fueling inflation,” Georgieva warned.

Referring to the situation in Europe, the IMF director estimated that in the current situation the European Central Bank must achieve a careful balance between the fight against inflation and the need to support the functioning of the economy. “There is definitely a fear of a recession in some countries, or even if it’s not going to be a recession, it’s going to feel like a recession in the winter. And if Mother Nature does not cooperate, and the winter is severe, it can lead to social tension,” Kristalina Georgieva said.

In August, the inflation rate in the Eurozone reached a new record of 9.1%. In this context, the ECB experts significantly revised their inflation forecasts, predicting that it will average 8.1% in 2022, 5.5% in 2023 and 2.3% in 2024. For comparison, in June of this year, the Frankfurt Stock Market institution forecast inflation of 6.8% in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023.