Oct 7 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman on Saturday reiterated her belief that inflation remains too high despite “considerable” progress in reducing it, and the U.S. central bank will probably need to further tighten monetary policy. “I anticipate that it will be appropriate for the (Fed) to raise rates further and maintain them at a restrictive level for a period of time in order to bring inflation back to our 2 percent target in a timely manner,” Bowman stated in prepared remarks to the Connecticut Bankers Association. “I am still willing to support an increase in the federal funds rate at a future meeting if incoming data suggests that progress on inflation has stalled or is too slow to achieve 2 percent inflation in a timely manner,” she added. The comments were largely identical to those made by Bowman on Monday regarding the economic and policy outlook. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that employers added nearly double the expected number of jobs in September, and it revised upward the job gains for previous months. Bowman, one of the Fed’s most hawkish policymakers, described the latest employment report as reflecting “solid” job growth. “The frequency and extent of recent data revisions complicate the task of projecting how the economy will evolve,” Bowman noted, highlighting that downward revisions to job growth in previous government reports had contributed to her support last month for the Fed’s decision to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range. Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Paul Simao Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Acquire Licensing Rights, opens new tab
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