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The Fed is in no hurry to cut interest rates, the chairman says.
“We don’t need to be in a hurry to cut spending,” Jerome Powell said yesterday after US inflation rose last month.
Powell reiterated that it would not be appropriate to cut the bank’s target from 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent until there is confidence that inflation is on track to fall back to a 2 percent target.
This rose to 2.5 percent in February, according to the benchmark the Fed uses for its target. This was an increase from 2.4 percent the month before, but was not a surprise.
“It’s good to see something is in line with expectations,” Powell said.
Caution: Jerome Powell said it would not be wise to cut the bank’s target from 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent until there is confidence that inflation is on track to fall to a 2 percent target
This echoed similar comments from a top Bank of England official, who warned this week that interest rate cuts in Britain were still “a long way off”.
Interest rates here have been raised to 5.25 percent as central bankers fight inflation.