Powell said the Fed may raise interest rates more aggressively to deal with inflation.

　　Xinhua News Agency, Washington, March 21 (Reporter Xiong Maoling, Gao Pan) Powell, interim chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, said on the 21st that the current job market in the United States is very strong, inflation is too high, and faced with the uncertainty caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Federal Reserve will take measures to raise interest rates by more than 25 basis points at one time when necessary to reduce the inflation level.

　　On the same day, Powell said at an activity of the National Business and Economic Association that the current labor market supply in the United States is even tighter than before the epidemic, and nominal wages are increasing at the fastest rate in decades. He said that one of the reasons why inflation rose more and lasted longer than generally expected was that the severity and persistence of supply chain bottlenecks were underestimated.

　　Powell said that in order to restore price stability, it is necessary for the Fed to act quickly. "If we think it is appropriate to take more radical action at one or more meetings to raise the federal funds rate by more than 25 basis points, we will do so."

　　He said that this year’s inflation prospects had deteriorated significantly before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He also warned that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and western sanctions against Russia may have a major impact on the US economy. In addition to the direct impact of rising global oil and commodity prices, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and related sanctions may inhibit economic activities and further disrupt the supply chain.

　　Powell also cited historical experience to analyze the possibility of reducing inflation by monetary policy without causing recession, but also said that it is not easy to achieve a soft landing in the current environment.

　　Last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it would raise the target range of the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to between 0.25% and 0.5% to cope with the high inflation, which is the first time the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates since December 2018. At the same time, the Fed is expected to start the process of reducing its balance sheet at the next monetary policy meeting. The latest economic outlook forecast released by the Federal Reserve recently shows that 18 members of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve unanimously believe that the federal funds rate is expected to rise above 1.25% this year.