Raphael Bostic, Speech: Monetary Policy amid Global Uncertainty

“There is plenty we don’t know, but let’s look at what we do know. Obviously, the baseline for inflation has moved up significantly. My original outlook was that inflation would likely begin decelerating this spring. That almost certainly won’t happen now. Let me say clearly that getting the high rates of inflation under control is the top concern for me for 2022.”

“In the latest SEP, I penciled in six rate hikes for 2022 and two more for 2023. I recognize that I am toward the bottom of the distribution relative to my colleagues, but the elevated levels of uncertainty are front forward in my mind and have tempered my confidence that an extremely aggressive rate path is appropriate today. Events are shifting rapidly, and we could see marked changes along key dimensions, such as aggregate demand, that could warrant quickly adjusting the trajectory of policy.”