Fed Committee Cites Concern on Inflation, Energy Prices

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embers of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee said they had become more concerned about the recent elevated levels of inflation, according to the minutes of the FOMC’s March 22 meeting released Tuesday.

Committee members also cited concern over "the sizeable further increase in energy prices."

At the March 22 meeting, the Fed raised the benchmark U.S. interest rate a quarter-point to 2.75%, the highest since October 2001, and said it would carry out additional increases at a "measured" pace. (Click here for previous coverage.)

There was some disagreement among members about whether to keep the increases at a “measured” pace, with some wanting more aggressive increases, CNBC reported. But faster rate hikes “did not appear necessary at this time,” the members said, and the term “measured” remained.

The minutes also showed that anecdotes of price increases had become more common across industry sectors, CNBC said.

The current round of rate increases is the longest since November 1988 through February 1989 when interest rates peaked at 9.75%, the highest in the tenure of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, Bloomberg reported.