Citigroup has hired Luisa Leyenaar-Huntingford from Goldman Sachs. This new hire is to co-head its global infrastructure franchise. Because, it seeks to win more business from cash-rich investment firms focusing on infrastructure deals. Leyenaar-Huntingford will be based in London. Responsibility will be shared with Todd Guenther in New York.

The pair will work closely with industry teams covering healthcare, industrials, natural resources and clean energy transition (NRCET), technology and communications. Leyenaar-Huntingford helped in the establishment of the Goldman’s infrastructure franchise in her time at the Wall Street bank. They will team up with Citi’s Iberia co-head of banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA) Jorge Ramos will continue to be a senior member of the global infrastructure franchise.

The infrastructure sector is poised for further growth, according to the memo. The memo was released by Citi’s global co-heads of the alternative assets group Anthony Diamandakis and John Eydenberg, and its EMEA head of BCMA Nacho Gutierrez-Orrantia. There was significant private investment demand across the globe to deal with environmental, energy, transportation, waste, communication, digital and other social needs.

Japan’s outgoing finance minister, Taro Aso, said that he had proposed lowering the central bank’s 2% inflation target. This is when the prices took a hit from plunging oil prices. He was the finance minister for nearly nine years. The slump in oil price was among the main reasons the government could not officially declare an end to deflation. In his final news conference as finance minister, Aso said that he proposed to Governor Kuroda that, with oil prices falling this much, it would be hard to achieve 2% inflation. Hence, the target must be lowered at some point. He stated this by referring to Bank of Japan (BOJ) chief Haruhiko Kuroda.

Aso also said that the governor said he would do his best to achieve the target. This is stated by adding that policymakers must scrutinise at some point, why the BOJ’s inflation target of 2% has not been met. The remarks highlight how the government and lawmakers distanced themselves from the BOJ’s target years ago, despite central bank reassurances that achieving the target was possible by maintaining or increasing stimulus.

Aso was deeply involved in negotiations with the BOJ. After Kuroda took over as governor, he deployed a massive asset-buying program. This is for pulling Japan out of deflation. Aso supported the BOJ’s stimulus efforts. He is a member of the cabinet. And also, had raised many doubts that monetary policy alone can reflate the economy out of the doldrums. New Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to form a cabinet.

Keeping the inflation elevated longer, the supply constraints thwarting global economic growth could still get worse. The world’s top central bankers warned that this is even if the current spike in prices is still likely to remain temporary. During the pandemic, the disruptions to the global economy have upset supply chains across continents.

These disruptions have left the world short of a plethora of goods and services from car parts and microchips to container vessels that transport goods. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told a conference that it is frustrating to see the bottlenecks and supply chain problems not getting better. That is in fact at the margin apparently getting a little bit worse. Powell told the European Central Bank‘s Forum that they are continuing into next year probably and holding inflation up longer than they had thought.

ECB chief Christine Lagarde voiced similar concerns by arguing that the end of these bottlenecks, once thought by economists to be just weeks away, is uncertain. Lagarde said that the supply bottlenecks and the disruption of supply chains, which they have been experiencing for a few months seem to be continuing and, in some sectors, accelerating. She thinks that about shipping, cargo handling etc.,

Global inflation has spiked in recent months. Lagarde said that the ECB would be very attentive to these second-round effects. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, had planned another speaker at the forum. He said that he would keep a very close watch on inflation expectations. Central banks are the main authority for controlling prices. They have no influence over short-term supply disruptions. And so, they are likely to be bystanders. They will wait for economic anomalies. Bailey said that monetary policy cannot solve supply side shocks. It cannot produce computer chips, wind, truck drivers etc., Policymakers called for heightened attention to inflation. They all maintained their view that the spike in inflation would be temporary.

Concerns about sticky inflation have fuelled a debate. This is for unwinding the crisis-era stimulus measures. The Fed, the BoE and the Bank of Canada have openly discussed policy tightening. In countries as South Korea, Norway and Hungary, they have already raised interest rates. The ECB and the Bank of Japan are the last movers. The ECB refuses to discuss tapering. This sort of patience was only reinforced by Lagarde and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.