01:40 PM EDT, 05/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The current level of federal funds is restrictive, but recent inflation data suggest that it needs to remain there for a time, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Friday in a live discussion at the Economic Club of Minnesota.

Goolsbee noted that real rates are the highest in decades and the FOMC needs to now think about how long they should be there, a question that is hard to answer.

"It does not make sense to tie our hands even partly," Goolsbee said, declining to comment on how many rate reductions are possible this year.

Instead, he referred to the FOMC's statement that rate cuts remain dependent on gaining more confidence that inflation is on a path back down to 2%.

Goolsbee next votes on the FOMC in 2025.