Rate of reticence: If oil prices keep rising, central banks would be better placed to recognise their shared responsibility to lift rates, and slow growth and inflation in a more orderly fashion

摘要

The relentless rise in world oil prices is posing a major dilemma to central bankers in most developed economies, and has equity markets in the throes of panic. Yet so far at least, there has been no coordinated response from policymakers. Headline consumer price inflation in the United States is more than 4 per cent, and in June the US Federal Reserve noted the risk of inflation had risen. Yet it steadfastly refused to lift interest rates.