Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said she expects the central bank to raise interest rates to 2% by August, with the further course of tightening being guided by how surging inflation cools off. “Fed policymakers have emphasized a commitment to act expeditiously to restore price stability, and I expect that further rate increases could put the federal funds rate in the neighborhood of 2% by August,” George said Monday night in prepared remarks to the bank’s agriculture symposium. “Evidence that inflation is clearly decelerating will inform judgments about further tightening.” The Fed raised interest rates by 50 basis points earlier this month — to a target range of 0.75% to 1% — and Chair Jerome Powell has signaled it was on track to make similar-sized moves at its meetings in June and July. That’s a plan which both hawks and doves on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee have since embraced to curb the hottest inflation since the 1980s.
Source: The Bond Buyer
