WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Friday he would be paying closer attention to how fast inflation rises rather than its quarter to quarter level in implementing a new Fed approach that seeks to push inflation above the 2% target in order to ensure the target is met on average over time.
The Fed this week began putting more specific language around that strategy, but it will be interpreted differently by each policymaker. For his part Bostic said if inflation went up to 2.3% but appeared stable “that would be fine…By contrast if we were at 2.2 and the next quarter at 2.4 and then at 2.6 that trajectory would give me concern” and perhaps require efforts to cool the economy.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider)
