Fed’s Miran: Monetary policy has passively tightened

Federal Reserve (Fed) Board of Governors member Stephan Miran said on Friday that monetary policy has passively tightened, adding that central bank can afford to have lower interest rates.

Key quotes

Federal Reserve is one of the biggest risks to growth. 

Monetary policy has passively tightened. 

We are misunderstanding just how tight monetary policy is. 

Inflation looking through biases is very close to target. 

There is some slack in the labor market; there is room for monetary policy to help.

We can afford to have lower interest rates.

I do not think we have an inflation problem, prices are roughly stable.

Not worried about inflation unless I see a strong uptick in the rental market.

It makes sense to continue to try to support the labor market with looser monetary policy. 

If supply is increasing to meet demand, you can have high growth without inflation. 

Natural rate of unemployment is likely 4%. 

We have not seen significant tariff effects in inflation.

US fiscal outlook is improving and US economic growth is outperforming, which reinforces US dollar reserve status.