Meeting minutes show Federal Reserve officials estimating inflation will remain 'uncomfortably high'

Minutes of a recent Federal Reserve meeting indicate that the leaders of the central bank believe consumer inflation is not likely to come down anytime soon and indeed may increase in critical categories in the near future. 

The minutes of July's Federal Open Market Committee, released on Wednesday, record that participants in that meeting—including the Federal Reserve Board of Governors—believe that inflation will "respond to monetary policy tightening and the associated moderation in economic activity with a delay and would likely stay uncomfortably high for some time."

"Participants also observed that in some product categories, the rate of price increase could well pick up further in the short run, with sizable additional increases in residential rental expenses being especially likely," the minutes continue.

The troubling portents come shortly after President Joe Biden signed the "Inflation Reduction Act," a measure aimed at taming runaway price increases throughout the economy, particularly in the areas of consumer goods and energy. 

Inflation levels in recent months have been at their highest levels in decades, driven in large part by huge increases in the money supply stemming significantly from government stimulus efforts amid COVID-19 pandemic closures.