New York (CNN Business)The Federal Reserve needs to move quickly to raise interest rates and normalize its monetary policy, according to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
Between a strong job market and soaring inflation, “there is an obvious need to move expeditiously to return the stance of monetary policy to a more neutral level,” Powell said during his Monday address at the Annual Economic Policy Conference of the National Association for Business Economics.
The central bank embarked on that journey last week when it announced the first interest rate increase since 2018, raising the benchmark rate to a range of 0.25%-0.5%.
In doing so, the Fed is acting in line with what economists believe is best: More than three-quarters — 77% — of participants in the NABE Economic Policy Survey released Monday believe monetary policy is too loose and that interest rates should be higher.
www.cnn.com/2022/03/21/economy/federal-reserve-powell-bostic-interest-rates/index.html