Fed chair Warsh says he won't prejudge rate decisions, citing price stability

US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said on Friday 16 October that he would not signal in advance what the central bank will do with interest rates at its remaining meetings this year.

“I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year,” Warsh said during a discussion with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, the Associated Press reported.

“We made very clear that we would deliver price stability, and we removed a dose of accommodation about a month ago,” he said. The Fed raised its key rate by a quarter of a percentage point to about 3.9% in September, its first increase in three years, AP reported. Minutes of that meeting showed most officials expect another increase will likely be needed this year.

Warsh said the surge in investment driven by artificial intelligence is one of the factors behind higher inflation. He also said he expects AI to bring “huge benefit” to the world economy over time. Reuters reported that Warsh described the US economy as resilient.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lower rates and criticised the Fed’s rate-setting committee, while saying he still supports Warsh, whom he appointed this year, AP reported.

Reuters said hotter-than-expected consumer and producer inflation reports this week showed price pressures spreading beyond energy.