MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Raising Interest Rates

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the portion of a transcript from

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference after the FOMC meeting

Wednesday:

     Q: a number of your colleagues said explicitly that they do not think the

FOMC should raise interest rates until core inflation is back at 2 percent. They

think there should be a rule. Where do you personally stand on that?

     A: As I mentioned, at the last press conference actually, we think our

policy rate is appropriate and will remain appropriate as long as income and

data are broadly in keeping with our outlook. In order to move rates up, I would

want to see inflation that is persistent, and that is significant, significant

move up in inflation that is also persistent before raising rates to address

inflation concerns. That is my view.

     Q: Is this defacto policy of the committee? I'm wondering why it's not

codified in a statement.

A: We haven't tried to turn it into some sort of official forward guidance. It

happens to be my view that that is what it would take to want to move interest

rates up in order to deal with inflation.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202 371 2121; email: brooke.migdon@marketnews.com

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