piggymegaways| Fed official Mester: Interest rates should remain high for longer

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said policymakers need more data to be confident that inflation is moving towards the Fed's 2% target and advised officials to keep interest rates high for a longer period of time to achieve that goal.

Mester reiterated that monetary policy is in good shape, adding that she expected price growth to cool slower than last year because improvements from supply chain disturbances have diminished.

"Coming economic information suggests it will take longer to gain this confidence," Mester said Thursday in a speech prepared for an event in Wooster, Ohio."As our understanding of the path of inflation becomes clearer, it is prudent to maintain our restrictive stance for longer at this time.

The Cleveland Fed president said policy was in a "good position" earlier this week and it was too early to say inflation progress was stagnant. She reiterated ThursdaypiggymegawaysThis view is expressed.

"Our current monetary policy stance puts us in a good position to manage risks that may emerge," she said in her speech."Without enough evidence to believe that inflation is falling back to 2% sustainably and in a timely manner, cutting rates too soon or too quickly will risk reversing the progress we have made on inflation."

Mester has a vote in decision-making this year. She will step down when her term expires at the end of June. The next meeting of Fed policymakers will be held from June 11 to 12.

Mester said Wednesday's price report showed a "welcome retreat" in inflation month-on-month, but she and other central bank officials said they wanted to see more data to be confident that inflation was on track towards the Fed's 2 percent target.