Fed official says broad inflation is bigger concern for US central bank

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack said on Friday that inflation is too high and broad-based, signaling that she could support higher interest rates at future US central bank meetings.

Hammack, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting committee this year, wrote in a social media post that conversations with business and community leaders suggested inflation was coming from more than one source.

She said that for the first time in her tenure she was hearing from businesses that the Fed needed to act to curb inflation, and from consumers who could not make ends meet and felt growing despair.

The Fed is responsible for seeking stable prices and low unemployment. Hammack said there was no conflict between those goals at the moment and that persistently high inflation was the bigger concern.

Her comments suggest she could push back against keeping interest rates unchanged at the Fed's policy meeting later this month. The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet on July 28 and 29. The central bank usually keeps interest rates higher to slow inflation, or lowers them to support the economy.

US consumer inflation cooled to 3.5 percent in June, but it has remained above the Fed's longer-term two-percent target for about five years. A day earlier, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan indicated support for higher interest rates to curb inflation.