(Reuters) – President of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank Patrick Harker said Wednesday that he expected the U.S. central banks to continue to raise the rate by two percent before moving to quarter-point increments to end the inflation “scourge”.

The Fed is intensifying its efforts to reduce demand for labor, which has reached a record high of 40 years. This will ultimately help to ease the price pressures.

This month’s central bank rate hike was a mere half point. It is the first time in nearly two decades that this has happened. Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that all of his policymakers supported two further increases to Fed rates at future meetings.

Harker stated that “Going ahead, if the data does not change significantly in the next weeks, I expect to two more 50 basis points rate increases in June and July”, in remarks Harker prepared for presentation to the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America. “After that, I anticipate a sequence of increases in the funds rate at a measured pace until we are confident that inflation is moving toward the Committee’s inflation target.”

The Fed’s former Chairman Ben Bernanke used the term “measured”, to denote a series of quarter point rate rises that occurred in mid-2000s.

Charles Evans, chief of Chicago Fed, signaled his support Tuesday for a first burst policy tightening then a lower rate hike path.

Powell is not as clear about what he expects for the policy plan beyond July. Powell stated on Tuesday that the Fed will continue increasing rates until they see clear and convincing evidence to support a cooling trend in inflation.

Fed policymakers claim that current levels of inflation exceeding 3x the Fed’s 2% target is the result of constrained supply being squeezed by outsized demand.

Harker indicated that he anticipates the U.S. Economy to grow by 3% this fiscal year. That is sufficient to ensure tight labor markets throughout the year, even with interest rate rises.