Fed hikes need to be gradual - IMF chief

Further interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve should be gradual or they risk hurting already fragile emerging economies, where many companies borrow in dollars, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Christine Lagarde said a tightening in US monetary policy, which started last month with the first rate hike in a decade, should be supported by "clear evidence" of inflation in the United States. She highlighted the negative implications for emerging economies.

"The key issue going forward will be the pace of normalisation. We agree that it should be gradual as announced, as stressed actually by the Fed, and based on clear evidence of firmer wage or price pressures," she told a central banking conference in Paris.

Ebbing confidence in China's policymaking has fuelled investors' retreat from the slowing economy and other emerging markets, which had attracted hundreds of billions of dollars over the previous decade thanks to their superior returns over sluggish developed economies.

Lagarde said higher US rates, combined with easing in the euro zone and Japan, could push up the dollar, making life harder for the many companies in emerging economies that borrow in dollars.

- IMF