The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, insists that it will be necessary to continue raising interest rates for some time, as the "disinflation" process has only just begun and "has a long way to go".
The chairman of the regulator recalled that the Fed's goal is to return inflation to 2% and that this will not be immediate.
"We think we will need to raise rates further and we believe we will need to keep policy at a restrictive level for a period that will not be smooth, but rather bumpy."
Although the Fed expects 2023 "to be a year of significant declines," Powell noted, "it will take, not just this year, but next year, to come down close to 2%."
Thus, he insisted, "we'll have to do more rate increases and then we'll have to look around and see if we've done enough."
Powell made these remarks a week after the Fed announced the eighth consecutive quarter-point rate hike, which confirmed a slowdown in rate hikes.
With this hike, lower than previous increases, rates were in a range between 4.5% and 4.75%, the highest since September 2007.