Fed official expects interest rate cuts to begin in 3rd quarter

ISTANBUL

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he expects the US Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates in the third quarter of this year.

"Because I'm data dependent, I have incorporated the unexpected progress on inflation and economic activity into my outlook, and thus moved up my projected time to begin normalizing the federal funds rate to the third quarter of this year from the fourth quarter," he said Thursday at Atlanta Business Chronicle 2024 Economic Outlook in the state of Georgia.

"If we continue to see a further accumulation of downside surprises in the data, it's possible for me to get comfortable enough to advocate normalization sooner than the third quarter. But the evidence would need to be convincing," he added.

The Fed's projections materials released on Dec. 13 indicated that the central bank could make at least three interest rate cuts of 25 basis points each during 2024.

The bank made a total of 11 interest rate increases from March 2022 through July 2023 to fight record inflation that climbed during the summer of 2022 to its highest in more than four decades.

ISTANBUL

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he expects the US Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates in the third quarter of this year.

The Fed's projections materials released on Dec. 13 indicated that the central bank could make at least three interest rate cuts of 25 basis points each during 2024.

The bank made a total of 11 interest rate increases from March 2022 through July 2023 to fight record inflation that climbed during the summer of 2022 to its highest in more than four decades.