Fed chief Powell to give policy update to Congress in early March

(Reuters) - Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell will testify before Congress on March 2 and 3 in what are likely to be his final public remarks on monetary policy before the U.S. central bank begins raising interest rates to fight decades-high inflation.

Powell will deliver his regular semiannual monetary policy update to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on March 2 and appear before the Senate Banking Committee on March 3.

Both hearings will begin at 10 a.m., the committees said on Friday.

Fed officials have all but promised to exit their pandemic-era zero-rate policy at their next meeting on March 15-16 to bring down inflation that has shot by the central bank's 2% target. But it has not been clear how aggressively they will respond.

Last week, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard called for a full percentage point worth of rate hikes over the next three meetings, a steeper path than the Fed has followed in decades.

This week other officials have sought to signal a gentler approach, with the influential head of the New York Fed, John Williams, on Friday saying he sees little need for the central bank to go big at the start of its rate-hike cycle.

Powell, who has not spoken publicly since January, may use his testimony to lay out what he feels is the consensus of the Fed's 16 monetary policymakers, who will be weighing the risks of an upward inflation spiral against the possibility that tightening policy too hard or fast could choke off economic growth or disrupt financial markets.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chris Reese and Tim Ahmann)

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