(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said he expects policymakers will lower interest rates this year as inflation cools further.

Inflation improved substantially last year, but the US central bank needs to get it back to its 2% target, Goolsbee said Friday in an interview on Fox News. 

“As inflation comes down, we would be moving toward less restrictiveness over the course of the year,” he said.

The Fed increased rates to a two-decade high of 5.25-5.5% over the past two years in an effort to contain price pressures. It has held rates there since July amid quicker-than-expected disinflation. 

Goolsbee said the Fed can’t change its 2% target now, before bringing inflation back down to that level. He added that the Fed is focused on the inflation rate and not price levels, which have soared over the past few years and are unlikely to return to levels seen before the pandemic.

Goolsbee’s were the last scheduled remarks from Fed officials before they enter the Fed’s communications blackout period ahead of the March 19-20 policy meeting.

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