Fed’s Bostic Says He Favors Patience in Cutting Rates Further

(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he’s not in a hurry to lower interest rates to the so-called neutral level, emphasizing that policymakers are committed to achieving their 2% inflation target.

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The Atlanta Fed chief reiterated the central bank’s benchmark rate is still “a ways” above the level at which it neither boosts nor slows the economy, which he estimates to be between 3% and 3.5%. Bostic also said he expects inflation will fall to the Fed’s target by the end of next year.

“I’m not in a rush to get to neutral,” Bostic said Friday during a moderated conversation at an event hosted by the Mississippi Council on Economic Education in Jackson, Mississippi. “We must get inflation back to our 2% target, and I don’t want us to get to a place where inflation stalls out because we haven’t been restrictive for long enough. So I’m going to be patient.”

Policymakers lowered borrowing costs by a half percentage point last month, using a larger-than-typical cut to protect the strength of the labor market. Bostic said it made sense for officials to start their easing cycle with a bigger move after holding rates at restrictive levels for more than a year and after risks to the labor market increased.

The Atlanta Fed chief said earlier this week that he expects US economic growth to slow as consumers spend down their savings, but he sees the labor market remaining robust. Fed officials will meet next Nov. 6-7, just after the US presidential election.

Bostic said he has never had a recession in his outlook because he always expected the economy to be strong enough to absorb the aggressive rate hikes the Fed rolled out to squash inflation.

He said he anticipates interest rate will continue to fall as long as inflation keeps declining and the labor market remains strong.

(Updates with additional comments from sixth paragraph.)