Hammack, the only Fed official who voted against, emphasized concerns about inflation, saying monetary policy is not far from neutral.

According to a report from Jinse Finance, Beth Hammack, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, explained why she voted against at this week’s interest rate meeting, stating that the interest rate should be kept stable until further progress is made in reducing inflation. Hammack believes that the interest rate is close to a neutral level that will neither drag down nor stimulate the economy, and suggests that the interest rate should be maintained at a high enough level to moderately restrict economic activity for a period of time. In a statement released on Friday, Hammack wrote, ‘Based on my estimate, monetary policy is not far from a neutral position, and I tend to keep the policy unchanged until we see further evidence that the inflation rate is once again falling back to our target of 2%.’