Fed's Williams: Inflation target 'critical' for achieving stable prices

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New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams on Friday said he believes the U.S. central bank's 2% target for inflation is "critical" to its efforts to achieve price stability. "Theory and experience have also shown the importance of transparency and clear communication, including setting an explicit, numerical longer-run inflation target, and of taking appropriate actions to support the achievement of that goal," Williams said in remarks prepared for delivery to a monetary policy conference at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "These are critical in anchoring inflation expectations—which, in turn, help keep inflation at its target level."