“The world’s top finance officials stepped up warnings about low inflation during weekend meetings of the International Monetary Fund, calling for action to combat downward price pressures that threaten consumption and stymie debt reduction.

“The IMF’s policy committee highlighted stubbornly weak price increases as a key drag on the global recovery, which is approaching the end of its fifth year.

“Downside risks remain to the global outlook, including notably renewed market volatility, very low inflation in some advanced economies, high levels of public debt and geopolitical tensions,” the committee said in its official communiqué Saturday.

“Much of the concern about too-low inflation centers on the euro zone, where annual inflation is just 0.5%. That is far below the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2%. Yet the ECB has been less aggressive than the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks in rolling out programs to attack the problem.”

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