U.S. Federal Reserve: Need to Raise Interest Rates

Jerome Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, announced today, Friday, that the board may need to continue raising interest rates to control inflation. Powell added that policymakers at the Federal Reserve "will proceed cautiously as we decide whether we will continue tightening monetary policy," but he also clarified that the bank has not yet concluded that the benchmark interest rate is high enough to ensure that inflation returns to the target of two percent. He stated, "The mission of the Federal Reserve is to bring inflation down to our two percent target, and we will do that. We have tightened monetary policy significantly over the past year. Although inflation has decreased from its peak - a welcome development - it is still very high." He continued, "We are prepared to continue raising interest rates if appropriate, and we intend to maintain policy at a restrictive level until we are sure that inflation is consistently moving back to our target."