WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Recent inflation data “has not been as encouraging as I would have liked,” Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said on Monday, saying that the lack of month-to-month improvement in the pace of price increases warrants another 0.75 percentage point increase in the Federal Funds rate when policymakers meet later this month.
“Information that came in the last several months pointed to a need to get to neutral much faster,” Bostic said, noting that the current federal funds rate, set in a range of between 1.5% and 1.75%, is still in his view “accommodative” and encouraging economic activity. Following the expected increase at the July meeting, “we will have to see how the economy evolves…I am not putting too much weight on probabilities for what we will do” in meetings beyond the next one.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider)
