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Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic signaled Wednesday that he is ready to start lowering interest rates even though inflation is still running above the central bank's target.

Previously one of the more hawkish policymakers, or in favor of tighter policy to fight inflation, Bostic noted that his focus is shifting more towards the employment side of the Fed's mandate as signs increase of labor market softening.

"I believe we cannot wait until inflation has actually fallen all the way to 2 percent to begin removing restriction because that would risk labor market disruptions that could inflict unnecessary pain and suffering," he wrote in a message posted on the Atlanta Fed's website.

The Fed's preferred measure showed inflation running at a 2.5% rate in July, and just a slightly higher 2.6% core rate when excluding food and energy. Bostic did not specify how much or when he thinks the Fed should start easing.

However, the missive comes with markets already widely expecting the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee to cut its benchmark borrowing rate by at least a quarter percentage point when it meets Sept. 17-18.

As an FOMC voting member this year, Bostic's views carry extra weight and add another level of assurance that the Fed will enact its first easing since the emergency measures it took more than four years ago in the early days of the Covid crisis.

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