Cleveland Fed Chair Beth Harker stated on Monday that in order to curb inflation, more stringent monetary policies may be necessary, and central banks should make rapid and gradual adjustments.

Hamarck is a member of the Federal Reserve's Policy Making Committee with voting rights. In a prepared speech delivered at the annual meeting of the National Association of Business Economics, she stated: "Wherever possible, I generally believe that it is better to make smaller adjustments and take action more quickly, rather than waiting and risking the need for more substantial policy corrections later on."

Hammack added, 'Considering all the input factors that affect my policy response function, it is appropriate to adopt a restrictive monetary policy stance to ensure that inflation returns to 2% in a timely manner.'

Hammack's remarks indicate that there may be more interest rate hikes in the future. Federal Reserve officials stated in the minutes of their September meeting that they might vote to raise interest rates again, but they did not specify when such a decision would be made.

The Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates last month, marking the first increase in rates in three years.

According to the FedWatch tool from the CME Group ( CME ), traders' pricing indicates that the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting later this month is over 78%. However, they believe that the probability of the Fed raising interest rates in December, which will be its last meeting of the year, is close to 88%.

Hammack stated that stubborn inflation poses challenges to consumers, businesses, and monetary policy makers. As the chair of the Cleveland Federal Reserve, she noted that given the "widespread" nature of current inflationary pressures, she expects it will take "some time" to bring annual price increases back down to the central bank's target of 2%.

In August, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index ( PCE ) rose by 3.4% year-on-year. Excluding the more volatile costs of food and energy, the core PCE , which is favored by the Federal Reserve, rose by 3% year-on-year.

Hammack stated, "Although actual inflation has been above the target for over five consecutive years, long-term inflation expectations have remained remarkably stable." She also added, "However, I don't take that for granted."

She stated, "As time goes by month by month, persistent high inflation increases the risk of inflationary thinking becoming entrenched in the economy."