There’s a good amount of anxiety about whether the Federal Reserve Bank will raise interest rates by a full a percentage point when it meets next week.
The president of the Atlanta Fed said last week that “everything was in play”. Those comments came after consumer prices surged 9.1% in June, faster than what forecasters had expected. On Monday, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust CEO Guy Williams gave some sobering context to those swollen consumer prices.
“The biggest component in that 9.1 was gasoline, and it’s down a little bit. Now, I wouldn’t get too encouraged because once China fully reopens, I think gas prices will go back up,” Williams said on the Newell Normand Show on Monday.
Despite the Atlanta Fed president’s comments on a full percentage point increase in the interest rate, Williams believes that’s unlikely.
Listen to his prediction for the looming interest rate hike and how fuel prices and production will influence the struggling economy for the foreseeable future.
