(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic reiterated his view that it will probably be appropriate for the US central bank to begin cutting interest rates this summer based on his outlook for inflation.

Bostic’s comments came after a report showing the Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation rose in January at the fastest pace in nearly a year.

“The last few inflation readings — one came out today — have shown that this is not going to be an inexorable march that gets you immediately to 2%, but that rather there are going to be some bumps along the way,” Bostic said Thursday in a speech at an Atlanta Fed banking conference.

“The slope of the line is still going down,” he said. “I’m of the view that it will probably be appropriate if things go the way that I expect to see us start to reduce rates in the summertime.”

Top Fed officials emphasized this week that they are in no hurry to cut rates with the US economy showing signs of continuing strength and the labor market tight. They voted unanimously to leave interest rates unchanged in a range of 5.25% to 5.5% last month, and investors are currently betting the central bank will begin easing in June, according to futures.

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