A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official said Thursday that he supports raising interest rates twice, once in July, and again before the end of this year, in order to curb inflation that has slowed in the United States, but remained high.
The Federal Reserve, which serves as the central bank, decided in June to halt the president’s rate hike for the first time since March 2022 after increasing it ten times, in order to assess the impact of the increase on the U.S. economy.
Most MPC officials believe that two more increases are necessary this year to keep inflation low, according to the minutes of the Fed’s meetings.
Committee member Christopher Waller said: “I consider that two additional 25-point base rate increases are necessary this year.”
He added that he was in favour of a halt to the increase in June, noting that “waiting six weeks is wise risk management.”
The June statements were “reassuring”, and he saw “no reason why no decision was taken on the first two increases at our meeting later in the month”.
