Arabic version: وارش يشير إلى التركيز على التضخم قبل اجتماع الفيدرالي في سبتمبر

According to Cnbc, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh used a Friday speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to offer a more hawkish assessment of inflation and signal that a rate increase could be possible if price pressures do not improve. He did not explicitly state how the Fed will handle interest rates at its mid-September meeting, but said elevated prices should be the central bank’s main focus.

Warsh recommitted the Fed to its 2% personal consumption expenditures inflation objective, describing it as a “firm, fixed target.” Government data released this week showed PCE inflation at 3.7% for July. He said 54% of PCE components had annualized inflation above 3% over the past 12 months, while 49% were above that level over the past six months. He also cited a consumer price index reading of 3.4%.

“None of these measures are perfect, but they all tell a similar story: Inflation is running above our 2 percent target,” Warsh said. He described financial conditions as not broadly restrictive, a shift from his July news conference, when he said conditions were uneven. Warsh said a majority of his colleagues and he had previously judged that it was wiser to await new information during the intermeeting period.

The chairman also said short-term interest rates are the Fed’s predominant tool for meeting its dual mandate. He said a Fed task force studying artificial intelligence was encouraging, but had no bearing on current policy decisions. Warsh did not address President Donald Trump, who has continued to seek lower rates, though his inflation assessment put him at odds with the president’s preference for rate cuts.