As it was stated by President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Raphael Bostic, inflation turned out to be stronger than he had initially supposed. Due to this fact, Bostic expressed his support for further interest rate hikes by additional 1.25 basis points towards this year’s end.
According to the information received during a conference call with reporters last Wednesday, Raphael Bostic saw no necessary progress being made, which makes him seriously consider a possibility of taking a moderately restrictive position in their monetary policy. In his opinion, the mentioned position lies within a diapason of 4.25%-4.5%, and it should be reached before the new year begins.
Bostic said that inflation is now extremely severe, while the pace of getting it closer to targeted 2% is insufficient. He also spoke about a recovery of the situation with an imbalance of supply chains, which was anticipated to happen since June. Such a recovery might have had a positive effect on price pressures.
However, the anticipated recovery didn’t happen on a scale required, which forced Bostic to severely reconsider his opinion on monetary policy.