BlockBeats reported on July 31 that three Federal Reserve policymakers said this week’s dissent in favor of rate hikes was driven by persistent inflation pressure, a sign that internal pressure on Chair Waller to take action is rising.
In statements released Friday morning, Beth Hammack and Neel Kashkari said the current round of price increases may reflect short-term factors, including President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and the war with Iran. Even so, they said inflation has become serious enough to warrant action from the Federal Reserve.
Lorie Logan joined that camp as well. She said that even if inflation cools, it is unlikely to fall fully back to the Fed’s 2% target without a rate increase. Without any policy restraint, inflation could remain above target until an unexpected shock occurs.
Kashkari said that if inflation remains stubborn, he may support a series of rate hikes rather than just one move in order to keep inflation from becoming more entrenched. “A series of small policy adjustments may be better than waiting to see how things develop and then ultimately having to take bigger action,” he said.
Hammack said that if the Fed does not tighten policy, the pace of price increases could continue to accelerate. “Inflation has remained stubbornly above 2% for more than the past five years, and I am not confident it will return to our target on its own,” she said.
The item cited Jin10 as the source.