Retail CBDCs bring unknown ‘consequences’ to financial system: IMF director

A myriad of unforeseeable “consequences” will be brought about by retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed. The IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva erred on the side of caution regarding retail CBDCs in a May 1 interview at the Milken Institute’s 2023 Global Conference. Georgieva explained the IMF considers retail CBDCs to have far more room for error than wholesale CBDCs. “We think that wholesale CBDCs can be put in place with fairly little space for undesirable surprises, whereas retail CBDCs completely transform…