As Fed amps up inflation fight, one policymaker urges caution

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters – With the Federal Reserve amping up its fight against 40year high inflation, one U.S. central banker this week urged caution so as to avoid triggering “significant economic dislocation” with interestrate hikes that were too sharp. p

p“As we expeditiously return monetary policy to a more neutral stance to get inflation closer to our 2 percent target, I plan to proceed with intention and without recklessness,” Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said in an essay released Tuesday on the banks website. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pThe essay set out in written form what he had laid out in an appearance on Monday: the case for raising interest rates by another half of a percentage point at each of the Feds next two meetings, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has signaled, but then to pause on rate hikes in September to see the effects of tighter policy on the economy and inflation.p

pMonetary policymakers must be “mindful” of the uncertain effects of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and supply constraints on the economic outlook, and “proceed carefully in tightening policy,” Bostic wrote. p

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pp Reporting by Ann Saphirp

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