(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve will need to continue to raise interest rates in order to get them to a level high enough to bring high inflation back down to the central bank’s target rate, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said on Monday.
“I expect we’ll continue to increase the federal funds rate because we have to bring inflation back down to our 2% goal and in order to do that we need to bring demand and supply into better balance,” Bowman said during an American Bankers Association conference in Florida.
Once at a sufficiently restrictive level, interest rates will then need to be held for “some time” to restore price stability, she said.
Bowman added that a very strong labor market alongside moderating inflation meant a so-called economic ‘soft landing’ remains possible.
(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by)