BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 16. Inflation remains elevated at around 8% on average, and uneven buffers leave the region exposed to tighter global financial conditions, said Jihad Azour, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) media briefing, Trend reports.
"Inflation remains elevated at around 8% on average, and uneven buffers leave the region exposed to tighter global financial conditions. This is a moment for carefully calibrated responses that protect the model without providing medium-term stability. Governments should allow automatic stabilizers to operate and deploy targeted temporary support for affected households," he said.
Azour emphasized that those should be financed through reprioritized spending rather than expanding deficits.
"Broad-few subsidies should not be reinstated or expanded. Central bank, facing persistent inflation, particularly where policy stance remains accommodative, should maintain or tighten restrictive positions. Financial supervisors much sharper oversight, liquidity, and foreign currency mismatch, and stand ready to deploy backstops," he added.