TOKYO, October 7. /TASS/. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) strongly supports benchmark interest rate hikes by central banks worldwide, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

"Now may be a good time for a prudently hawkish bias in many countries’ monetary policy – and it is highly appropriate that the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB, and the Bank of Japan have all raised rates and spoken firmly, with future policy rate paths repricing accordingly," she said.

"Policymakers had a relatively easy ride over the last 17 years as for all that time interest rates were stuck below GDP growth rate," the IMF chief said. She explained that because economies grew faster than the interest rates they had to pay, debt servicing pressures were mitigated. Now, however, rising interest rates have put an end to that environment.

She was speaking in Singapore ahead of the IMF and World Bank Autumn Meetings, scheduled for next week in Thailand.