Paulson Backs Current Fed Rate Stance
Paulson Backs Current Fed Rate Stance

Date

Spread the love

Arabic version: بولسون تؤيد موقف الاحتياطي الفيدرالي الحالي بشأن الفائدة

According to Cnbc, Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Anna Paulson said she is confident the current level of interest rates is sufficient to bring inflation back toward the central bank’s 2% target. In her first CNBC interview, Paulson said policy needs to remain “mildly restrictive” to return underlying inflation to target in an acceptable period.

Paulson voted with the Federal Open Market Committee majority last week to keep the benchmark borrowing rate at its 3.5%-3.75% target range. The decision passed by a 9-3 vote, with dissenters questioning whether the current rate level was restrictive enough to lower inflation. Paulson said supporting the majority was “not a close call” for her.

Fed officials have held rates steady all year while inflation has remained above the 2% goal. Paulson said she sees underlying inflation, excluding energy supply shocks, tariffs and other factors, at roughly 2.4%-2.8%. The core inflation measure used by the Fed as its primary forecasting tool was 3.3% in June, according to a Commerce Department report released Thursday.

She said she wants to see more progress after what she described as possibly mild improvement in recent months. If inflation does not move lower, Paulson said policymakers must be open to recalibrating monetary policy. She also said she is keeping an “open mind” about changes discussed by Chairman Kevin Warsh, including a possible reduction in the number of FOMC meetings from eight per year.

About the Author

More
articles