U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said on the 11th that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates more times and reduce its balance sheet earlier and faster to deal with the continued high inflation in the United States. When attending the nomination hearing held by the Senate Banking Committee on the same day, Powell said that if the high inflation in the United States lasts longer than expected, and if the Federal Reserve has to raise interest rates more times over time, "we will do so". He said that the US inflation rate currently far exceeds the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve, which shows that the US economy no longer needs the support of highly loose monetary policy, and the Federal Reserve will use its policy tools to prevent high inflation from becoming more stubborn. Powell said that the normalization of the Fed's monetary policy will be a long process. First, the Fed will end its asset purchase initiative in March this year, and then raise interest rates this year. Later this year, the Fed may start to reduce its balance sheet. Powell said that compared with the last time when the Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy, the U.S. economic situation is completely different and the scale of the balance sheet is larger. Therefore, the Fed will reduce its balance sheet earlier and faster this time, and the interval between ending asset purchases and starting to reduce its balance sheet will be shorter. The minutes of last December's monetary policy meeting released by the Federal Reserve last week show that under the background of the strengthening of the U.S. economy and rising inflation, the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates in advance and start the balance sheet reduction process thereafter. Most Fed officials expect to raise interest rates three times this year. Goldman Sachs Group and other Wall Street institutions recently predicted that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates four times this year. Data show that the current size of the Fed's balance sheet exceeds $8.7 trillion. US President Biden nominated Powell for re-election as chairman of the Federal Reserve in November last year, and nominated Federal Reserve director brenard as vice chairman. Their nominations need to be approved by the Senate. (outlook new era)