(Washington) A senior official of the American Central Bank (Fed) said Thursday that he was in favor of two further interest rate hikes, one in July and the other before the end of the year, in order to curb US inflation which, although slowed down, remains high.
The Fed decided in June to pause hikes in its key rate for the first time since March 2022 and after ten hikes, in order to assess the consequences of these hikes on the American economy.
Most of its monetary policy committee (FOMC) officials anticipate that two more hikes will be needed this year to keep inflation down, according to the Fed’s “minutes” (meeting minutes).
Governor Christopher Waller, a member of the FOMC, said Thursday to be one of them.
“I consider that two more 25 basis point hikes […] are needed this year,” he said in New York, according to the briefing notes for his speech.
Waller said he backed the June break, saying he thought “waiting six weeks was prudent risk management.”
He said he was reassured by the June data and said he saw “no reason why the first of these two increases would not be decided upon at our meeting later in the month” of July.
The next Fed meeting will be July 25-26.
His statement comes a day after the release of a Fed report that indicated a recovery in the economy since May.
A further hike would take the policy rate to its highest level in two decades.