𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The new boss of the US’s central bank has reiterated its political independence following pressure from Donald Trump over interest rates, but pledged to “chart a new course” under his leadership.

Kevin Warsh also said that he felt the risks to inflation in the world’s largest economy had come down in recent weeks.

He was making his first public speaking appearance as chair of the Federal Reserve at a panel event alongside Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and the heads of the European and Canadian central banks.

Speaking at the ECB Forum on Central Banking, he said: “We’re going to chart a new course so that we can make better decisions and do the right thing.”

This includes not giving “forward guidance” to the financial markets about future interest rate decisions, adding: “When we get into that room and shut the door we’re going to have a good debate.”

Asked about the wishes of the US president, who has consistently called on the Fed to lower the nation’s interest rates, Mr Warsh said: “We’ve been an independent central bank for a very long time, we’re going to be an independent central bank at this moment and you’re going to see no changes on that.”

He reiterated that the Fed would not be “comfortable” with an inflation target above 2%.

Mr Warsh was nominated by Mr Trump and replaced former chairman Jerome Powell when his term ended in May.

He has been thought of as a more conservative-leaning economist with a reputation for being relatively “hawkish” – meaning he typically supports higher interest rates to control inflation.

His selection was therefore viewed by traders and economists as a more moderate choice from the president who has repeatedly called for the Fed to cut the country’s interest rates more quickly.

Speaking on the current economic climate, Mr Warsh said: “We’ve all looked around and we’ve seen that prices are too high.”

But he added: “Expectations of inflation over the first four weeks of this period, they’ve come down. Inflation risks have come down.”

Mr Bailey agreed that energy prices had “come down quite substantially” in recent weeks, but remained higher than they were before the Iran war.

But he said there was a “delayed reaction” in the UK due to Ofgem’s energy price cap, which took effect this morning for July to September.