Kashkari dissents on Fed policy language amid Iran conflict uncertainty in World Economy News 04/05/2026 Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari dissented against the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy statement language on Wednesday, arguing the central bank should not signal future rate cuts given heightened economic uncertainty from the Middle East conflict. Kashkari supported holding the federal funds rate steady but objected to keeping the phrase “In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate” in the statement. The language is widely interpreted as indicating the next policy move would be a rate cut. The Fed president said such forward guidance is inappropriate given recent economic and geopolitical developments. Instead, the FOMC should signal the next rate change could be either a cut or a hike, depending on economic conditions. The FOMC first adopted similar language at its September 2024 meeting when it cut rates after holding them steady for 14 months. The most recent rate cut occurred in December 2025. Before the Iran conflict, Kashkari said he felt confident core inflation was heading back to the Fed’s 2% target, despite remaining elevated for almost five years. He had projected one more 25 basis point cut in 2026 in his December and March economic projections. The conflict has increased risks to both sides of the Fed’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment, Kashkari said. Brent crude oil prices have risen as much or more than during the Ukraine war, though from a lower starting level. Blue Chip forecasters now expect core personal consumption expenditures inflation to reach 3% this year, up from 2.7% projected in January. The unemployment rate has hovered around 4.3% since May 2025. Kashkari outlined two scenarios. If the Strait of Hormuz reopens quickly, rates could remain steady for an extended period before gradual easing. If the closure persists with further infrastructure damage, rate increases could be warranted to prevent unanchoring of inflation expectations, even at the risk of labor market weakness. Source: Investing.com 2026-05-04 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share