Inflation is the highest in a generation, says Citi's global chief economist

The inflation at present is the highest the world has seen in a generation while a tighter US Federal Reserve policy indicates slower growth and recession risks, Citi’s global chief economist Nathan Sheets said on Friday.

“It's (Fed’s hawkish stance) highlighting that tighter policy means slower growth and increased recession risks. Those are the kinds of implications we are grappling with now,” he told CNBC-TV18.

Therefore, one does not know how much the Fed will have to hike rates to control inflation, he said.

His remarks came as US’ Fed set the pace with a 0.75 percent rate hike on Wednesday, its fifth increase since March, and a half dozen central banks from Indonesia to Norway followed suit with rises of similar or identical size within hours, often issuing guidance pointing to more action to come.

He, however, said the good news is that in many countries, individual household corporate balance sheets are in a better position than they were at the time of the global financial crisis. So many of those vulnerabilities do not seem to be at play, he said.

Oil prices, he said, are still elevated but not as much as they were three or four months ago. “It reflects some softening in global demand, particularly goods, but the reality is that we still are faced with geopolitical disruptions,” he said.