WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve does not see a good case for raising or lowering interest rates and its current policy stance could help inflation move toward the central bank’s 2 percent target, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Tuesday.

“We don’t see a strong case to move rates in either direction,” Clarida told Bloomberg television, largely echoing comments made last week by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “Monetary policy is in a good place right now.”

The Fed held interest rates steady last week and policymakers have been stressing the central bank will be “patient” in making any changes to policy.

A few policymakers, however, have recently expressed concern over persistently low inflation and have indicated that rate cuts might eventually be needed.

Clarida, however, said there were signs the recent weakness in inflation was driven by temporary factors and over time prices would move in line with the Fed’s target.

“It’s going to be an important priority of policy to get us to 2 percent inflation,” Clarida said, saying the Fed would adjust policy as needed to get to its objective.

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