The world's policymakers are deploying fiscal and monetary policy in completely the wrong way, according to one fund manager, who believes that governments are failing to prepare for the next financial crisis.
Michael Browne, a fund manager at U.K.-based equity specialists Martin Currie, told CNBC that countries should be raising taxes and not interest rates as the U.S. Federal Reserve did during mid-December last year.
"Given the level of budget deficits that we have around the globe today, whether you are in the U.S., whether you're in the U.K., whether you're in Italy, whether you're in Portugal - doesn't really matter where - it is surely insanity to raise interest rates when you could be raising tax," he said.
"You need to balance out those budgets, you need to get those budgets in better condition. Because, I'm telling you there's a global economic slowdown, it's akin to a recession at this moment in time."
After a period of record low rates and aggressive asset purchasing, the world's central banks, like the Bank of England, are looking to follow the lead of the Fed and tighten policy at some point in 2016. This come as at a time when lawmakers seem fairly content with moves to lower taxes in an effort to increase spending.
In the U.K., the Conservative government has continued to raise the personal tax allowance - the amount people can earn before they begin to start paying tax. In the last few years it also dumped a policy of a 50 pence tax rate which was first introduced by the U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009. This was effectively a 50 percent tax rate for the highest earners in the country.
"We should be having a debate at the present moment in time, saying let's cream off a bit of extra growth, not through interest rate increases, but let's do it through tax so we can rebuild those budget deficits," Currie told CNBC.
"We can get ourselves to a prudent position so when the next big hit comes though ... we will have governments in a position that can act in a counter cyclical basis," he added.
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