Boston Fed's Collins Cites Inflation, Conflict for Rate Hike Support

A top Federal Reserve official, Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, attributed her support for raising borrowing costs to stubbornly high inflation and the renewal of combat in the Middle East.

In an interview with The Associated Press, she said that these factors led her to agree with the Fed's decision to lift its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9% last Wednesday.

Collins also expects the Fed will keep rates unchanged next year, as penciled in for later this year.