World economy is ready for the 'soft landing we've been dreaming of', says IMF

Kristalina Georgieva, director of IMF (International Monetary Fund)during a conference being held in the United Arab Emirates, stated that the world economy is ready to stabilize again, after a period of sharp increases in interest rates in several countries.

“We are very confident that the world economy is ready for this soft landing that we have been dreaming of,” Georgieva said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

+ Inflation in the US rises 0.3% and the chance of the Fed maintaining interest rates in March increases

According to the director, the expectation is that interest rates may reach lower levels in the middle of the year, especially in the United States, which has seen constant growth in numbers in recent years.

The adjustments in the country began in March 2022, when the rate was still in the range of 0% to 0.25%. Since then, the North American central bank has raised its Fed Funds 11 times to contain the advances of rising inflation in the country and stabilize the local economy – in an aggressive interest increase seen rarely in the country's economic history and the fastest and strongest that the United States has experienced in two decades.

Middle East

Georgieva also said she worries that conflicts such as the war in Gaza and tension in the Red Sea region could interfere with the return to “normality” that the IMF wants.

“Right now we see a risk of spillovers from the Suez Canal, but if there are other unintended consequences in terms of the direction of the fighting, then they could become much more problematic for the world as a whole.”