Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker stressed the importance for the central bank to lower interest rates – just not in the immediate future.
Speaking today in an interview with the Philadelphia radio station WHYY, Harker said, “It’s important that we start to move rates down. We don’t have to do it too fast, and we’re not going to do it right away. We should hold rates where they are and start to bring rates down.”
Harker explained that the Federal Reserve needs to hold rates where they are because “the job of controlling inflation is not done” – the central bank has repeatedly stressed the need to reach a 2% inflation rate. He acknowledged the strategy of trying to achieve a soft landing for the economy via its rate policy was not foolproof, adding that “many things could prevent a soft landing” while warning that a “soft landing process will likely be bumpy.”
Harker was part of the central bank’s policy making Federal Open Market Committee this year, but he will not be a voting member of the committee in 2024.
