Central bank chiefs toughen rhetoric against inflation

Powell and Lagarde speak

Central bank chiefs are toughening their rhetoric against inflation as this month’s monetary policy decision approach, warning they will do “whatever it takes” to tame inflation.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said yesterday (8 March) to Congress that higher and faster rate hikes could be coming but were still heavily reliant on data that have not yet been released. Powell hinted the Fed might return to half-point rate rises after stepping back to a 25bps rise a month ago and began to soften its language on inflation. "If, and I stress that no decision has been made on this, but if the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes," he said. Bank of England's Dhingra...