Yeah before is better than now, but now is better than later.
To your second point, I’m not entirely certain either, but my understanding is that with a high interest rate, it cuts spending which would drive down inflation. It does this by encouraging people to save (“wow savings interests rates based off of an 80% interest rate!”) And discouraging people from buying\getting loans (“buy a home? With 80% interest?! No”). With less spending, companies have to begin to drop prices or increase the amount of product offered to encourage buying.