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In the war against inflation, 16 central banks raised benchmark interest rates at their September and October meetings. The Reserve Bank of India joined the bandwagon last week, raising the repo rate by 25 basis points after nearly three-and-a-half years. It also shifted its stance from neutral to calibrated tightening, a stance last adopted in October 2018. The world has entered a higher-for-longer interest-rate scenario. Elevated rates lower inflation by making borrowing pricier and cooling economic demand. The impact is seen after a lag as households re-adjust spending and companies reconsider investments due to rising interest outgo and dearer crude-linked raw materials. Despite negative supply shocks from oil prices, the global economy has remained resilient, said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). How long that resilience will last is uncertain as the West Asia war continues. The artificial intelligence (AI) capex boom, persistently high energy prices, tariffs and record public debt all add to inflationary pressures, cautioned IMF. Growth at risk Hopes are tempering. The World Bank projects global economic growth to slow to 2.5% in 2026 from 2.9% in 2025. The UN Trade and Development estimates global growth at 2.6% this year, versus 2025’s 2.9%. Tightening cycles are not new, but this one could differ from 2022, when the supply shock was relatively short-lived. Crude prices have climbed from around $70 a barrel to $98-100 a barrel in seven months, adding to economic pressures, while El Niño is fuelling concerns over food inflation. “The 2022 tightening cycle was not accompanied by strong global growth and the AI investment boom. So, this cycle will not just be normalization of interest rates to tame inflation, it will be a deeper rate hiking cycle than 2022,” said Gaura Sen Gupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank. Synchronized moves Developed and emerging central banks will be more synchronized now. Diverging monetary policies create interest rate differentials. This fuels currency fluctuations and capital market outflows mainly from emerging economies, hurting their fiscal positions. “International Finance data shows that emerging markets (EMs) have seen outflows of $60 billion during H1FY27,” Sen Gupta noted. A strong US dollar, the world's reserve currency, leaves no room for EM central banks to maintain a pause. So, the Fed’s decisions have repercussions on global liquidity conditions and monetary policy moves. “Apart from managing inflation, the central banks’ role is also to maintain the equilibrium on interest rate differentials, to curb outflows in a rising interest rate scenario. EMs benefitted more than developed markets (DMs) during the easing cycle, but now there is more pressure on EMs to move in tandem with DMs on interest rates as they are heavily reliant on foreign funds,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. The rising appetite for AI bets has attracted robust foreign fund inflows into select Asian economies. A delicate balance That said, EM central banks won’t go full throttle on rate hikes. The quantum and pace of tightening would also hinge on local conditions, because the second-round or indirect effects can dampen governments’ fiscal position— subdued economic activity can weigh on tax collections and consequently, hurt governments’ ability to spend. “For central banks, it is now mostly about maintaining enough credibility to keep expectations anchored and limit the scope for second-round effects on inflation, without making policy so restrictive that it slows the economy too sharply,” said Janet Henry, global chief economist at HSBC in a 30 September report.
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