(Finance) – A rate hike of half a point is “on the table” at the Federal Reserve meeting in May. The president of the American central bank said so, Jerome Powell during a debate at International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.
The Fed – said the banker – had “theexpectation that inflation would fall more or less at this time and this expectation was disappointed so now we actually want to see progress. ” We intend to “get to neutral rate levels faster“.
Citing the minutes of the Fed’s last March meeting, Powell said that “many committee members felt it appropriate for there to be one or more 50 basis point increases.”
Insiders expect Powell-led bank to hike rates by 50 basis points in each of the next three meetings in an effort to curb demand and inflation which, overall, is well above target. 2% of the Fed.
Data from last week showed that prices in the United States have risen at the fastest rate since 1981.
“Our goal is to use our tools to bring supply and demand back into sync so that inflation goes down and it does so without a slowdown that equates to a recession,” said Powell, while admitting it would be “a lot. demanding”.