jerome powell: Powell says Fed could hike rates by 0.75 again in July

Washington: The US central bank is committed to bringing down high American inflation and could hike the benchmark interest rate by another 0.75 percentage points in July, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.

“Clearly, today’s 75 basis point increase is an unusually large one and… either a 50-basis-point or a 75-basis-point increase seems most likely at our next meeting,” Powell told reporters.

He said the Fed has the “tools” and the “resolve” to do what it takes to lower inflation from the highest level in more than 40 years.

“We are not trying to induce a recession now, let’s be clear about that,” Powell told reporters. “We are trying to achieve two percent inflation consistent with a strong labor market,” which would include higher unemployment.

But he acknowledged there is always a risk policymakers could go too far.