IMF chief defends Powell after Trump says Fed has 'gone crazy'

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she "would not associate" Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell "with craziness" after U.S. President Donald Trump commented that the central bank, which has been raising U.S. interest rates, had "gone crazy," CNBC reported on Thursday.

Powell and other policy makers are extremely serious, solid and certainly keen to base their decisions on actual information, Lagarde told CNBC in an interview, adding that central banks should remain independent in their functioning.