Carmen Reinhart, vice president and chief economist of the World Bank Group, was interviewed by reporter Stephanie Flanders.

"what is worrying is that inflation is not just a temporary phenomenon," he said.

Risks in the financial sector are "currently masked by very low interest rates and highly loose policies during the epidemic", and we do face the risk of significant policy tightening. Many balance sheet problems that went unnoticed before will jump back in front of us.

Higher inflation could lead to higher interest rates and make the situation difficult for policy makers to control.

"We should not be complacent about the accuracy of the central bank. Inflation has been below target for a decade. A price surge that is big enough and lasts long enough will affect inflation expectations. Our control is not as precise as we thought.

Economists are notoriously bad at predicting turning points.

Inflation is one of the ways to drive down debt levels, but if it is accompanied by higher interest rates, the calculations commonly used in a low interest rate environment will change. High debt will threaten people's ability to cope with shocks.