WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- Monetary policy makers at the U.S. Federal Reserve in a meeting in March said high unemployment would keep inflation in check.
In minutes released Tuesday concerning the March 15 meeting, the Fed said higher food and oil prices were pushing an increased expectation of overall inflation. However, "projected persistence of slack in labor and product markets," would leave core prices largely stable, the meeting minutes said. "The increase in inflation was expected to be mostly transitory if oil and other commodity prices did not rise significantly further," the Fed said.
The minutes said "the economic recovery continued to proceed at a moderate pace" between meetings with manufacturing "little changed," although "the labor market continued to show signs of firming."
