Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is vowing more action to control inflation.
In a speech for the National Association for Business Economics on Monday, he said, “the labor market is very strong, and inflation is much too high.”
He signaled the Federal Reserve could make large interest rate increases and push rates to high levels.
“There is an obvious need to move expeditiously to return the stance of monetary policy to a more neutral level, and then to move to more restrictive levels if that is what is required to restore price stability,” Powell said.
The comments come just days after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25% to battle inflation that’s peaked for the first time in 40 years.
Based on Monday’s comments, it is possible the Fed could raise rates by half a percentage point in May.
