(Corrects quote in paragraph 2, adding reference to 'in households or the business sector, in the financial markets')
By Francesco Canepa and Howard Schneider
SINTRA, Portugal, July 1 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Wednesday he will stick firmly to the U.S. central bank's 2% inflation target and "disappoint" anyone who expects loose monetary policy despite President Donald Trump's call for interest rate cuts.
"If there were people in households or the business sector, in the financial markets, who thought that this central bank was going to be comfortable with an inflation objective above 2% -- well, I guess they'd be disappointed," Warsh told a European Central Bank panel in Sintra, Portugal, emphasizing that — beyond restating the inflation objective — he'd give little indication about where he thinks monetary policy or the economy are headed.
Asked if the potential for disappointment extended to Trump, who picked Warsh to take over as head of the Fed and has said he expects borrowing costs to fall, Warsh said, "we have been an independent central bank for a long time. We are going to be an independent central bank at this moment and you will see no changes on that."
By Francesco Canepa and Howard Schneider
SINTRA, Portugal, July 1 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Wednesday he will stick firmly to the U.S. central bank's 2% inflation target and "disappoint" anyone who expects loose monetary policy despite President Donald Trump's call for interest rate cuts.
"If there were people in households or the business sector, in the financial markets, who thought that this central bank was going to be comfortable with an inflation objective above 2% -- well, I guess they'd be disappointed," Warsh told a European Central Bank panel in Sintra, Portugal, emphasizing that — beyond restating the inflation objective — he'd give little indication about where he thinks monetary policy or the economy are headed.
Asked if the potential for disappointment extended to Trump, who picked Warsh to take over as head of the Fed and has said he expects borrowing costs to fall, Warsh said, "we have been an independent central bank for a long time. We are going to be an independent central bank at this moment and you will see no changes on that."
2 months ago
