From Bloomberg, January 5:
Federal Reserve officials started the new year reiterating their concerns about US inflation being too hot, with one regional president saying interest rates should remain high well into 2024 to cool price growth.
“I have raised my forecast over 5%,” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said Thursday in an interview on CNBC television, referring to her projection for the federal funds rate. “I see staying there for some time, again, until we get the signals that inflation is really convincingly starting to fall back toward our 2% goal.”
When asked if that was a projection that it would be appropriate to hold the federal funds rate above 5% well into 2024, she said, “it is for me.”
Her counterpart at the Atlanta Fed, Raphael Bostic, said inflation is “way too high” and remains the biggest headwind in the US, reiterating that he and his colleagues remain determined to bring price growth down to the target range.
“I appreciate recent reports that include signs of moderating price pressures, but there is still much work to do. I’m sure my central bank colleagues from around the world agree with me on this,” he said at a Fed conference in New Orleans Thursday....
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