US Fed official says may be 'appropriate' to lower number of rate cuts
The Peninsula
Washington: The US central bank should either scale back or delay its interest rate cuts in response to disappointing inflation data, a senior Feder...
Washington: The US central bank should either scale back or delay its interest rate cuts in response to "disappointing" inflation data, a senior Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.
"In my view, it is appropriate to reduce the overall number of rate cuts or push them further into the future in response to the recent data," Fed Governor Christopher Waller told a conference in New York.
After swiftly hiking interest rates and then holding them at a 23-year high to tackle surging inflation, the Fed recently pivoted to debating when to cut them.
At its most recent rate decision, policymakers reenforced their prediction of three interest rate cuts this year in spite of a recent monthly uptick in inflation, while leaving the Fed's key lending rate unchanged.
"We made a lot of headway in reducing inflation in the past year or so, although the readings in the past two months have been disappointing," Waller said.