Federal Reserve Stresses Need for Ongoing Rate Hikes in Report to Congress

The Federal Reserve underscored Friday in a semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress that inflation remains too high and that ongoing increases in interest rates are needed to bring inflation back down to the Fed’s 2% target.

“The Federal Reserve is acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials,” the report reads.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will testify on this report and monetary policy generally in his semi-annual testimony to Congress next Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee and Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee. In those sessions, he is expected to be hit hard on questions on inflation and further rate hikes. It will be Powell's first testimony since Republicans took control of the House.