Federal Reserve official Hammack, who voted only against it, emphasized inflation concerns, saying monetary policy was not far from neutral

Beth Hammack, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, explained why she voted no at this week's meeting, saying interest rates should be kept steady until more progress is made in reducing inflation. Hammack said she believed rates were close to neutral levels that would neither drag down nor stimulate the economy, and suggested they should remain high enough to moderately constrain economic activity "for some time." In my estimation, monetary policy is not far from neutral, and I am inclined to keep policy on hold until we see further evidence that inflation is moving back toward our 2 percent objective, "Hammack wrote in a statement released Friday.