CLEVELAND Federal Reserve Bank Loretta Mester on Wednesday said that she expects price pressures to ease further this year, allowing the Fed to reduce borrowing costs, but “we want to be pretty confident” inflation is heading sustainably to the Fed’s 2 per cent goal before cutting interest rates.

“At some point, as we get more confidence, we will start to normalise policy back to a less restrictive stance, but we don’t have to do that in a hurry,” Mester said. “We just have to sort of be watchful here, and wait until the economy shows itself.” REUTERS