Fed’s Powell says tighter credit conditions ease rate hike pressure

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that the aftereffects of recent banking sector troubles takes some pressure off the U.S. central bank to raise rates.

Tighter credit conditions mean that “our policy rate may not need to rise as much as it would have otherwise to achieve our goals,” Powell said at a central bank conference in Washington. He spoke as the end of the Fed’s rate hike cycle has come into view and markets and officials are debating whether more rate increases are needed to lower inflation.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby, Editing by Franklin Paul)