Atlanta Fed's Raphael Bostic says US interest rates are high enough
Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic laid out a case on Thursday against any further U.S. interest rate hikes, saying monetary policy is already tight enough to bring inflation back down to 2% over a «reasonable» period.
«I feel policy is appropriately restrictive,» Bostic said in remarks prepared for delivery to the South African Reserve Bank Biennial Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
«We should be cautious and patient and let the restrictive policy continue to influence the economy, lest we risk tightening too much and inflicting unnecessary economic pain.»
However, «that does not mean I am for easing policy any time soon,» he noted.
U.S. central bankers are widely expected to leave the Fed's policy rate in the current range of 5.25%-5.5% when they next meet in a little less than three weeks.
But financial markets are pricing in close to even odds that the Fed will ultimately lift that rate another quarter of a percentage point by year's end, given still too-high inflation, stronger-than expected economic growth and still-low unemployment, most recently measured at 3.5%.
As of mid-June, a large majority of U.S.
