'Too early to declare victory' on inflation, Chicago Fed president says
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Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said Sunday that the Fed’s fight against inflation isn’t over yet despite encouraging signs that inflationary pressures are easing without triggering a recession.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which acts as the Fed’s policymaking arm, last week opted against an additional rate hike and instead chose to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% – the highest level in 22 years. The Fed began aggressively raising interest rates last year to tamp down inflation, which peaked at a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022 and has gradually declined to 3.1% this November, though it’s still well above the Fed’s 2% target.
In an appearance on CBS’ «Face the Nation,» Goolsbee said that the U.S. has «made a lot of progress in 2023, but I still caution everybody it’s not done. And so the data is gonna drive what’s gonna happen to rates.»
«It’s too early to declare victory,» Goolsbee said to host Margaret Brennan. «We made a lot of progress. So the thing to remember is every time in the past that the Fed or other central banks around the world have had to get inflation down a lot, it has basically always been accompanied by a major recession.»
FED LEAVES INTEREST RATES UNCHANGED AGAIN, SIGNALS THREE CUTS COMING NEXT YEAR
Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said on CBS' «Face the Nation» that while there's been progress on taming inflation it's still «too early to declare victory.» ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty
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