MOSCOW: It is “too early” for the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) to declare victory in inflation reduction despite “a lot of progress” made, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Austan Goolsbee said on Sunday, adding that the inflation level was still above the 2 per cent target, reported Sputnik.
“It’s too early to declare victory. We made a lot of progress. So the thing to remember is every time in the past that the Fed or other central banks around the world have had to get inflation down a lot,” Goolsbee told the CBS News broadcaster.
He also said that the process of inflation reduction had “always been accompanied by a major recession in 2023,” but this year’s figures were expected to show a “substantial” inflation drop, as quoted by the broadcaster.
“We still get one more month of data, but 2023 looks like it’s going to end up being a very substantial reduction in inflation without a big increase in the unemployment rate, that’s the golden path that I talked about, but we’re still above the target,” Goolsbee told the broadcaster.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve System maintained interest rates at the level of 5.25-5.5 per cent.
Moreover, the regulator downgraded the country’s inflation forecast for 2023 and 2024, raised the 2023 gross domestic product growth forecast, and maintained the unemployment level forecast for 2023 and 2024.
The Fed has predicted the achievement of the target inflation level in the United States in 2026. – BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
