Fed should raise rates to restrain growth and inflation, Hammack says

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Beth Hammack on Thursday reiterated her view that the U.S. central bank should raise rates immediately to bring down too-high inflation and restrain business growth and investment.

"When I'm talking to businesses, I hear that businesses are excited to raise funds, they're excited to borrow so they can continue to invest. They see the growth opportunities, which is great; I want them to continue to see growth opportunities, but if we have too much of that growth.... it could mean that that's putting additional pressure on price increases and that puts more of that inflationary pressure out there," Hammack said at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce in Dayton, Ohio. "We need to make sure that we've got some amount of restraint coming from policy so that we can get inflation from this above-3% number back down to that 2% objective."

One retailer in Cincinnati told her that they are raising prices "because they don't know where the next price pressure is going to come from, but they know it's coming from somewhere," she said. She said she met a father who had to miss his son's travel football games because of the high cost of gas. People with decent jobs are turning to food banks to manage their budgets, she said.