On Thursday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised the US Federal Reserve and other central banks throughout the world to “stay the course,” on monetary policy, and continue to focus on combatting inflation first and foremost.

Julie Kozack, a spokesperson for the IMF said inflation momentum may have diminished in the United States, however it remains a pressing issue that must be confronted.

At a regular briefing, she told reporters, “If inflation does prove to be more persistent than expected, then the Fed may need to push interest rates higher for longer.”

She noted that the IMF intended to release its updated World Economic Outlook on July 2th.

In April, the IMF had warned that a new crisis could erupt due to continuing financial system vulnerabilities, and that could hammer global growth for this year, inching its global growth forecasts for 2023 lower. It forecast real GDP growth in 2023 at 2.8% in 2023 and at 3.0% in 2024. It was one tenth of January’s predictions for each year. In 2022 the global economy grew by 3.4%.

Kozack said, “We see challenges over the medium term for the global economy, and that requires policy measures to be taken now. We believe that central banks should stay the course on monetary tightening to decisively reduce inflation.”

Kozak’s analysis of the state of the US economy comes on the heels of an “Article IV” review of all US policies, pointing to continued concern over the risks of inflation and pointing out that the most up to date data has borne out its analysis regarding the resilience of the labor market.

Kozack said, “We also see that inflation momentum has slowed, but that inflation does remain a pressing concern. Our advice remains unchanged, which is that the Fed would need to stay the course on monetary policy to ensure a durable reduction in inflation and to ensure that inflation expectations … remain well-anchored.”