Financial Associated Press, Shanghai, November 14th (Editor Huang Junzhi)Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Sunday that despite good news on consumer prices last week, “we still have a long way to go” before the Fed stops raising interest rates.
Fed officials may adjust to 50 basis points of rate hikes at their next or subsequent meeting after several consecutive hikes of 75 basis points, but Waller cautioned that the time for the Fed to pause rate hikes is not near.
Waller said, “Interest rates will continue to rise and will remain high for some time until we see inflation fall close to our target. We still have a long way to go. That won’t happen in the next It’s over in a meeting or two.”
The comments echo comments made this month by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and other colleagues, who said the rate hikes are far from over, but the pace may slow soon. Waller is one of the Fed’s more hawkish policymakers, arguing for tighter policy to ease upward pressure on prices.
The latest data released last week showed that the U.S. CPI rose 7.7% year-on-year in October, lower than the expected 7.9%, and the previous value was 8.2%. . The core CPI in the United States rose 6.3% year-on-year in October, compared with the expected 6.5% and the previous value of 6.6%.
“It’s a good thing we’re finally seeing some evidence that inflation is starting to come down,” Waller said. “We need to see that persist before we really start thinking about the brakes.”
Officials forecast in September that rates would hit 4.4% by the end of this year and 4.6% in 2023, implying a 50 basis point hike in December and a final 25 basis point hike next year. They will update their quarterly forecasts next month.
Asked if rates would rise above 5%, Waller said it would depend on how inflation performed, while making it clear the Fed would not back down.
“The 7.7 percent CPI increase is still huge,” he said. “It’s really not about the speed anymore, it’s our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal will depend entirely on what happens to inflation.”