Larry Fink sees elevated inflation for years due to supply shocks

BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said he expects inflation to remain elevated for several years primarily because of snarled global supply chains.

“It’s been aggravated by Covid and lockdowns in different parts of the world,” Fink, 69, said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview on “The Close” on Bloomberg Television. “It’s more supply driven.”

The world’s largest asset manager, which oversaw about $9.6 trillion as of March 31, is navigating a world beset by surging inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical upheaval. Fink had previously said the war in Ukraine created profound changes to the global economy, forcing companies and governments to reconsider their reliance on foreign markets and spend more to boost their capabilities locally.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t have the tools on its own to fix supply problems across the economy, Fink said in the interview, predicting market volatility to continue. Inflation also is likely to remain elevated as the economy transitions to greener sources of energy, he said.