Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin suggested more rate hikes could be coming as the central bank focuses all of its attention on taming inflation.
Speaking at an event in Baltimore, Barkin compared the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment to raising two "very different kids."
The Federal Reserve chose last week to raise rates for the first time in three years because inflation has become a "troublemaker" that the central bank needs to address while the labor market "continues to get good grades," Barkin said according to a prepared text of his speech.
Barkin warned that temporary shocks spurring inflation this year could drag on and new cost pressures could develop. "Like in child rearing, one 'talking-to' might not be enough," he said, referring to last week's rate hike.
The comments come roughly a week after the Fed unanimously voted to raise the benchmark federal-funds rate range by a quarter point. Supplemental forecasts by Fed policy makers indicated that at least one more hike could be coming this year.
Barkin isn't currently a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, but said the committee's decision would help ease inflation.
Persistent consumer spending, new tariffs, conflict in the Middle East and a surge of AI business investment have kept price growth above the central bank's 2% target by more than a percentage point, Barkin said. Those shocks haven't proven to be short-lived or one-off events, he said.
"These may pass in time, but I do expect it will take time," Barkin said. "In the interim, there is a risk that current elevated levels of inflation could affect future inflation."
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