Fed’s Barkin Says There’s More Work to Do to Reduce Elevated Inflation

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said the central bank needs to continue to raise interest rates to bring down too-high inflation, without giving an opinion on the size of the hike planned later this month.

“The Fed has moved aggressively to bring inflation down by raising interest rates and reducing our balance sheet,” Barkin said Wednesday in a speech on the labor market in Columbia, South Carolina. “We’ve seen some progress but at 5.5% inflation remains well above the Fed 2% target, and as a result we’ve made clear we still have work to do.”