Fed’s best path is to hike rates to neutral rapidly, says Barkin

A man walks past the US Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2022.

NEW YORK: The Federal Reserve (Fed) should raise interest rates to the neutral range as quickly as possible and can move above that should price pressures persist, according to Richmond Fed president Thomas Barkin.

“The best short-term path for us is to move rapidly to the neutral range and then test whether pandemic-era inflation pressures are easing, and how persistent inflation has become,” Barkin said, referring to level of rates that neither speed up nor slow down the economy.