Brainard says U.S. Fed should probably 'soon' slow pace of rate hikes

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said the central bank should soon moderate the size of its interest-rate increases, signaling she favors slowing to a half-point hike as early as next month.

“It will probably be appropriate soon to move to a slower pace of increases,” Brainard said Monday in a fireside-chat event at Bloomberg’s Washington bureau. “But I think what’s really important to emphasize: We’ve done a lot, but we have additional work to do.”

The U.S. central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate this year from nearly zero in March to a target range of 3.75 per cent to 4 per cent this month in a bid to slow the economy and bring inflation down from four-decade highs. The most aggressive tightening campaign since the 1980s has included rate hikes of three-quarters of a percentage point at each of the last four policy meetings, triple the usual move.

“There are likely to be lags, and it’s going to take some time for that cumulative tightening to flow through,” Brainard said. “So, it makes sense to move to a more deliberate and a more data-dependent pace as we continue to make sure that there’s restraint that will bring inflation down over time.”