Richmond Fed Leader Tom Barkin argued that the announced spending, investment and employment data eliminated the risk of recession in the US economy.
Stating that the Fed’s goal continues to be to reduce inflation and not to harm the economy while doing so, Barkin said, “Inflation is slowing down and there is no need for aggressive interest rate hikes as the Fed did last year. We assumed additional interest rate hikes for this year. The damage to the gradual increase in interest rates. will limit it,” he said.
Barkin is not a voting member of the FOMC this year.
