Fed's Brainard Stresses Priority of Curbing Inflation Down to 2% Goal

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com - Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is expected to stress the central bank’s priority to get inflation back down to 2%, while protecting economic gains already made to support a full recovery.

“[I]nflation is too high … Our monetary policy is focused on getting inflation back down to 2 percent while sustaining a recovery that includes everyone,” Brainard said in prepared remarks for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee slated for Thursday.

The remarks arrived just as data showed U.S. inflation rose 7% for the year through December, the fastest pace since 1982.

“Today the economy is making welcome progress, but the pandemic continues to pose challenges. Our priority is to protect the gains we have made and support a full recovery,” Brainard said.

The Fed governor will also point to the progress made on the Fed’s labor market objective, which forms part of the central bank’s dual mandate.

“We are seeing the strongest rebound in growth and decline in unemployment of any recovery in the past five decades,” according to remarks from Brainard.

“Over the past year, unemployment has fallen by 2.8 percentage points, and growth is estimated to be around 5 1/2 percent, according to a variety of private forecasts.”