Speech

Bullard Discusses Inflation, Rate Increases and Economic Growth on CNBC

Abstract: During an appearance on CNBC, St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard offered his perspective on inflation, the federal funds rate and the U.S. economy. While acknowledging that the U.S. had two quarters of negative growth in gross domestic product (GDP), Bullard said that with all the job growth in the first half of this year, it’s hard to say there was a recession. And he said he expects third-quarter GDP growth to be reasonably good. “I think we’ll get positive GDP growth in the second half” of the year, he said. On managing inflation, he reiterated his call to increase the federal funds rate to 3.75% to 4% by the end of the year. Bullard also reiterated the Fed’s commitment to returning inflation to 2% over time. “I think we're going to have to see convincing evidence across the board—headline and other measures of core inflation all coming down convincingly—before we'll be able to feel like we're doing enough and we're doing a good job,” Bullard said.

Keywords: inflation; federal funds rate;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Part of Series: Speech

Publication Date: 2022-08-03