在2024年后期将基准利率降低了整整一个百分点后，美联储官员上个月决定维持借贷成本不变。美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔上周对议员们表示，美联储不需要在去年降息后急于降息。政策制定者希望看到通胀方面取得进一步进展，并暗示他们需要更多时间来了解总统唐纳德·特朗普的经济政策。The President of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, Patrick Harker, stated that monetary policy is currently in a suitable position as officials await further progress on inflation.
Harker stated that after three rate cuts last year, the policy remains restrictive, and he expects interest rates to continue to decline in the long term. He mentioned that economic growth and production remain resilient, and the labor market is in balance.
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker."These are sufficient reasons to maintain the policy interest rate stability," Harker stated Monday in a speech prepared for an event in the Bahamas. "While I won’t commit to a specific timeline, I remain optimistic that inflation will continue to decline and that the policy interest rate will be able to decrease in the long run."
After lowering the benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point in late 2024, Federal Reserve officials decided last month to keep borrowing costs unchanged. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers last week that the Fed does not need to rush to cut rates after last year's reductions. Policymakers want to see further progress on inflation and indicated that they need more time to understand President Donald Trump's economic policies.
Recommended reading: Powell reiterates to Congress that the Fed is not in a hurry to lower interest rates; inflation expectations remain quite stable.
In January, the Consumer Price Index in the USA rose, marking the largest increase since August 2023, with widespread growth in household spending on groceries, Henry Hub Natural Gas, and housing. "In the past decade, CPI inflation in January has been above expectations nine out of ten times," he said. "My guess is that seasonal adjustments are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing economy, and we need to analyze the underlying trends from the monthly noise."
The president of the Philadelphia Fed stated that he fully supports last month's decision to maintain the interest rate. He indicated that if the economy develops as expected, the current interest rate is at a good level, sufficient to bring the inflation rate back to the central bank's target level of 2% over the next two years.
