United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell remarked on Wednesday that the central bank might have achieved a sufficiently restrictive level with its monetary policy or at least might not be "far off" it.
Speaking to the media at a press conference, Powell stressed the Fed is seeking to reach and stay at such a level for a longer period. He defended the bank's decision to raise the key interest rate by another 25 basis points by noting that "we always have to balance the risk of not doing enough" and "slowing the economic activity too much."
Powell also said the assessment of the Fed's monetary policy and its effect will be "an ongoing one" and that for any future steps "we're gonna have to see data accumulating." He added that slowing down the pace of the hikes was "the right move," enabling the Fed to observe more data.
