US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said, “The Fed will increase interest rates by more than 25 basis points at a time, if necessary.”
Fed Chairman Powell said in a statement to the National Association for Business Economics that the Federal Reserve will take “necessary steps” to reduce inflation.
“If we decide it’s appropriate to move more aggressively by raising the federal funds rate above 25 basis points, we will do that,” Powell said in his speech.
Powell said that if the Fed needs to tighten its monetary policy above natural interest rates, it will do so and that the inflation outlook has deteriorated substantially this year.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the policy rate to the 0.25-0.50 percent range last week, making it the first rate hike since November 2018. In his press statement after the March meeting, Powell stated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine increased food, energy and other commodity prices and inflation pressures.
