U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday reaffirmed the U.S. central bank’s intent to encourage a “broad and inclusive” recovery of the job market, and not to raise interest rates too quickly based only on the fear of coming inflation.

“We will not raise interest rates pre-emptively because we fear the possible onset of inflation. We will wait for evidence of actual inflation or other imbalances,” Powell said in a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives panel.

Recent price increases have pushed the consumer price index in the United States to a 13-year high, prompting Republicans on the committee to offer charts detailing spikes in consumer items like bacon and used cars to suggest price increases are getting out of hand.

“We have unstable employment and higher inflation,” said Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, referring to the Fed’s congressionally mandated goals of ensuring maximum employment and stable prices. “Something has to give.”

The recent high inflation readings, however, “don’t speak to a broadly tight economy” that would require higher interest rates, Powell said, referring to a “perfect storm” of rising demand for goods and services and bottlenecks in supplying them as the economy reopens from the pandemic. (SD-Agencies)