U.S. central bankers are split on whether high inflation will be a recurring problem in the future requiring repeated rate hikes, comments from two officials showed on Tuesday, a stark contrast to their broad consensus on the current policy path.
Separate remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin on the post-pandemic outlook showed an emerging rift in the views of Fed leaders, who all currently see the need to raise interest rates aggressively this year.
How that debate shapes up could bend the path of Fed policy for years to come.
Speaking in a Wall Street Journal interview, Brainard said that bringing inflation back down toward the Fed’s 2 percent goal is the central bank’s “most important task” but was confident a series of interest rate hikes and a reduction in the Fed’s massive bond holdings would achieve that.
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