Fed policymakers' inflation concerns increased at July meeting, minutes show

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Concern about inflation deepened at the Federal Reserve's meeting last month, with "several" policymakers ready to raise interest rates and "many" saying a hike in borrowing costs would be needed if inflation does not decline to the U.S. central bank's 2% target, the minutes of the session showed on Wednesday.

The policymakers who favored a rate increase at the meeting "remarked that price pressures appeared broad-based and judged that the (policy-setting) Committee should adopt a more restrictive policy stance to meet its commitment to achieving its price-stability and maximum employment goals on a sustained basis," the minutes of the July 28-29 meeting said. Failure to do so, they argued, would risk "a steeper and potentially more costly sequence of tightening moves at a later stage."

The Fed voted at that meeting to hold its benchmark interest rate in the current 3.50%-3.75% range, but with three policymakers dissenting in favor of a quarter-percentage point hike.