By Our Special Correspondent
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said on Sunday he still believes the U.S. central bank can tame inflation without substantial job losses given the economy's continued momentum.
"If you look over history ... there is a really good chance that if we have job losses it will be smaller" than in past slowdowns, Bostic said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.
"Inflation is high. It is too high. And we need to do all we can to make it come down," Bostic said of the Fed's plans to continue with aggressive interest rate increases meant to slow the economy, bring the demand for goods and services more in line with supply, and lower inflation running at a four-decade high.
How deep and enduring a slowdown is needed - and the job losses that might entail - remains a matter of debate, with Fed officials continuing to argue that companies will be unlikely to lay off workers that have been hard to hire during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing continued strong growth in payroll jobs, Bostic said there is "a lot of positive momentum. ... There is some ability for the economy to absorb our actions and slow in a relatively orderly way."
Bostic also said, "We need to have a slowdown. ... We are going to do all that we can at the Federal Reserve to avoid deep, deep pain." Bostic spoke after a volatile week in global financial markets.
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