Fed’s Brainard: Rates to rise higher, stay elevated longer

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Fed official says the Federal Reserve will need to continue lifting its short-term interest rate to a level that restricts economic growth and keep it there for an extended period. In remarks to a banking industry conference Wednesday, Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard echoed similarly tough comments about inflation delivered by Chair Jerome Powell late last month in Jackson Hole. Brainard said the Fed’s benchmark interest rate “will need to rise further” and stay at a level high enough to slow the economy “for some time to provide confidence that inflation is moving down” to the Fed’s 2% target. In July, prices were 8.5% higher than a year earlier.