Powell Excerpt: Aiming For Inflation Around 2%

     WASHINGTON (MN) - The following is a response of Federal Reserve Chairman

Jerome Powell to a question from a reporter at his press conference following

Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Question: You are about to undershoot your inflation target for the seventh

straight year.  Your new forecasts say you are going to undershoot it for the

eighth straight year. Should we interpret that the dot plot, that policy should

be in a restrictive range?  And why would people be advocating restrictive

policy at a time of persistent undershoots?

     Powell: Well, as a Committee, we do not desire inflation undershoots and,

you are right, inflation has continued to the surprise to a down side, not by a

lot though.  We are very close to 2%.  We believe it's a symmetric goal for us,

inflation is symmetric around 2%.  and that's how we are going to look at it. 

We are not trying to be under 2%.  We are trying to be symmetrically around 2%. 

And I don't -- you know, I never said that I feel like we have achieved that

goal yet.  The only way to achieve inflation symmetrically around 2% is to have

inflation symmetrically around 2% and we have been close to that but we haven't

gotten there yet.  We haven't declared victory on that. So that remains to be

accomplished.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 (973) 494-2611; email: harrison.clarke@marketnews.com

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