Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Thursday that it is probably too early for the central bank to cut its policy rate in March.
This statement comes in light of the difficult course of inflation on its way back to the Fed's 2% target rate, as reflected in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures.
“I think March is probably too early for a rate cut because I think we need to see some more evidence,” Mester said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“I think the December CPI report shows that there is still a lot of work to be done, and that work will require restrictive monetary policy.”
Mester also commented on the current state of the economy and the FED's plans for the future. “We are not ready to cut interest rates yet, I want more evidence that the economy is progressing as expected, this year will be the year we start talking about the balance sheet,” Mester said.
He also added that a slowdown of Quantitative Tightening (QT) is not imminent, but the FED will discuss it next year. As of now, the evaluation is focused on how long rates and policy should remain restrictive.
Mester concluded by stating that the incoming data is consistent with a soft landing, indicating a gradual decline in economic activity or inflation without leading to a recession or an overheated economy.
*This is not investment advice.
