Bostic 'comfortable' with Fed pause, Barkin refrains from predicting June policy move

Article Source

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said he is "comfortable waiting a bit" to see how the central bank's tightening campaign plays out, while Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin refrained from predicting the June meeting's outcome.

"The Fed has done a lot of tightening and policy acts with lag," said Bostic at the TED Conference: Uncertainty and Prospects for Disruptive Investments. "I don't want to presuppose what any slowdown will look like. Let's take it one meeting at a time."

Meanwhile, Barkin said he is still not convinced that inflation is in a steady decline and refused to pre-judge the Fed's policy decision in June.

As for issuing a central bank digital currency, Barkin said the Fed would need Congressional backing and issues like bank intermediation risks would have to be accounted for. Bostic said a CBDC could create uncertainty on the Fed's policy transmission.