Will take 'a few years' to get US inflation back to 2%, says Fed official

The Federal Reserve is committed to bringing soaring US inflation back down to two per cent, but that will take "a few years," a top central banker said Tuesday.

The Fed this year has moved aggressively to raise interest rates to try to rein in price surges that have hit American families, and central bankers, notably Fed chief Jerome Powell, have doused any hopes they would alter course anytime soon.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams echoed Powell's tough comments, saying the benchmark lending rate will have to remain high for some time to bring demand back into line with supply.

US annual inflation ebbed slightly in July to a still-painfully high 8.5 percent, and Williams said the Fed is "absolutely committed" to achieving the two-percent goal.

"The situation is very challenging. Inflation is very high. The economy has a lot of crosscurrents. I do think it will take a few years, but we're going to get that done," Williams said in a discussion with The Wall Street Journal.

The Fed has increased the key lending rate four times this year, including two supersized 0.75 percentage point hikes in June and July, and Powell said Friday another similar increase is possible next month as well.

Inflation was already high at the start of the year and spiked globally following the Russian attack on Ukraine, but gas prices at the pump have been moving down in recent weeks, taking some of the pressure off American consumers.