By Howard Schneider
LEXINGTON, Virginia, March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S.
Federal Reserve is "still learning" how much impact its interest
rate increases have had on the economy and inflation, Federal
Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson said on Monday.
Inflation "has started to come down," with some of that due
to tighter monetary policy and some due to other factors such as
improving global supply chains, Jefferson said in remarks
prepared for delivery at an event at Washington and Lee
University.
But "monetary policy affects the economy and inflation with
long, variable, and highly uncertain lags, and we are still
learning about the full effect of our tightening thus far,"
Jefferson said.
He did not comment on recent bank stress or provide his
views about whether the Fed should continue raising interest
rates at upcoming meetings.
However inflation "should fall back" toward the Fed's 2%
target as higher interest rates discourage spending in
interest-rate sensitive sectors of the economy like housing.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider
Editing by Chris Reese)
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