Xinhua Finance, Washington, May 17 (Reporter Xu Yuan) On the 17th, Michelle Bowman, director of the Federal Reserve, said that the inflation level in the United States will remain high for a period of time, and the possibility of raising interest rates when necessary is not ruled out.

Bowman said in a speech in Nashville, Tennessee on the same day that it was largely due to the recovery of the supply chain. In 2023, the Federal Reserve "made considerable progress" in slowing down inflation, but no further progress has been seen this year, and inflation is expected to remain high for some time.

Bauman said that the current monetary policy of the Federal Reserve "seems to be at a restrictive level". However, if the data shows that inflation has stagnated or reversed, then "I am still willing to raise the target range of the federal interest rate in the future (monetary policy) meeting". "My basic expectation is still that inflation will further decline while the policy interest rate remains stable. But I still believe that some upward inflation risks will affect my expectations."

Bauman also said that although there are signs that the US job market is becoming balanced, "progress has slowed down". The recent employment report shows that the employment market is strong, and the number of job vacancies is still higher than the level before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Since September last year, the Federal Reserve has kept the target range of the federal funds rate unchanged between 5.25% and 5.5% for six consecutive monetary policy meetings. At present, the market generally expects that the Federal Reserve will probably cut interest rates twice this year, and the first cut may be in September.