(Reuters] Loretta Mester of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank rebuffed the notion that raising interest rates would make the Fed prioritize achieving 2% inflation and not maximizing employment.

Mester, a member of a panel at Ohio’s University of Akron said that “it’s not really about a tradeoff right at this point, it’s actually an imperative that you take the action and that the FOMC is committed to doing that, to get inflation down trajectory.” You must return to price stability if you are serious about maintaining a strong economy, a healthy labour market and healthy environment. …(Inflation is a threat to the workforce and it also harms employment.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the Fed’s policy-setting agency.