Fed: New rate hikes ‘most likely’ needed

WASHINGTON, D.C.: US central bankers see no reason to pause the current course of gradual rate hikes that have infuriated President Donald Trump and some even say the Federal Reserve may soon need to slow the economy, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday.

But, amid brisk American expansion, some Fed policymakers also warned of looming dangers to the world economy, such as the potential for a strengthening US dollar and possible contagion from sputtering emerging markets, according to minutes from the Fed’s most recent meeting three weeks ago.

The Federal Reserve’s steady increases in benchmark lending rates have enraged the president, who has called the bank “crazy,” “loco” and his “biggest threat,” in contrast to previous presidents who in recent decades refrained from comment on decisions of the independent Fed.

Still, the minutes showed that, for the moment at least, American policymakers were largely in agreement about the near future — despite the increasing heat from the president, who fears higher rates will derail his economic agenda.

Further rate hikes “would most likely be consistent” with the current period of firming inflation and historically low unemployment, according to the minutes released Wednesday.

On the other hand, while risks were “roughly balanced,” some Fed members said instability in emerging economies — many of which are heavily indebted and vulnerable when US rates rise — could “spread more broadly through the global economy and financial markets.”