By Doina Chiacu
Sept 20 (Reuters) – Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Sunday that inflation is too high across all sectors of the US economy, not just in rising oil prices.
“So even if we strip out energy, which is really volatile, and strip out food — they matter a lot — but in terms of where the economy is going, inflation is still too high,” Kashkari told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Kashkari supported the unanimous vote last week to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 3.75%-4.00%. He was one of three officials to dissent at the Fed’s prior meeting in favor of a hike when the majority of the Federal Open Market Committee then opted to leave rates unchanged.
Projections released along with the rate-hike decision showed all but two Fed policymakers see at least one more quarter-point increase this year. Rate futures markets reflect a two-in-three chance that the Fed’s policy rate ends 2026 in the 4.00% to 4.25% range, with a strong likelihood of it climbing by at least another quarter point beyond that by mid-2027.
MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT DRIVES OIL SURGE
Crude oil prices soared after hostilities intensified with the US and Iran attacking and sinking some oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia closing its vital East-West pipeline due to aerial attacks in the widening Middle East war.
The Fed’s job is to get inflation back down to the central bank’s 2% target, he said, and there is nothing it can do with interest rates that might result in opening up the Strait of Hormuz or bringing down oil prices.
“The inflation that the American people are feeling every day is much beyond just oil prices. It’s in all aspects of the economy. It’s in the services sector, for example, widely. So we have tools to bring that back down,” Kashkari said.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some help from other parts of government or other parts of the real economy.”
FED CHAIRMAN ECHOES INFLATION CONCERNS
Kashkari’s inflation concerns largely echoed those voiced by Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh after the conclusion of the latest rate-setting meeting on Wednesday. Warsh estimated that inflation as measured by the gauge the Fed uses to set its 2% target was likely around 3.6% in August, though that figure will not be released officially until later this month.
“Too many categories are still posting increases above 3 percent, on both a six- and 12-month basis,” Warsh said at his press conference following the meeting.
Kashkari also said economic growth has been quite strong, even with the tariff and trade war and the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. “The American economy has been very resilient.”
“Despite that, the US economy has been growing at a good clip, and productivity is showing some signs of improving. And so my hope is, as some of those conflicts go to the background, that the growth can really take over and hopefully bring inflation down. Hopefully, disinflation can take over, which will make the Fed’s job a lot easier.”
(Reporting by Dan Burns in New York and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Ros Russell and Matthew Lewis)
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