Federal Reserve chairman: Elevated inflation likely to delay rate cuts this year

Federal Reserve Board chairman Jerome Powell (Jeff Chiu/AP)

US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has cautioned that persistently elevated inflation is likely to delay any Fed interest rate cuts until later this year, opening the door to a period of higher-for-longer rates.

“Recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence” that inflation is coming fully under control and “instead indicate that it’s likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence,” Mr Powell said during a panel discussion at the Wilson Centre.