MNI BRIEF: Yellen Says Inflation to Return to Normal in 2022

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a Congressional panel Wednesday that inflation will return back to 2% in 2022 and inflation expectations are well contained.

"I do continue to believe that" higher inflation will only be temporary, the former Fed chair said. "Now that the economy's opening back up again, some of those prices are reverting towards more normal levels" and "after the year is over inflation rates will go back to normal."

"Most measures of inflation expectations remain low and well-contained," Yellen told lawmakers. Earlier on Wednesday Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told reporters he sees inflation at 3.4% in 2021 before falling to 2.1% in 2022, and some ex-Fed officials see the strong U.S. economy potentially pulling up the timeline of rate hikes to overlap QE taper.