Top Fed official Says US Inflation has' broad-based expansion '

Inflation in the United States is now "broad-based," a top Federal Reserve official said Thursday, suggesting the central bank still needs to keep raising interest rates to curb price increases, AFP reported.

The Fed has raised its benchmark lending rate nine times in a row since March last year to curb inflation, which remains well above its long-term target of 2 percent.

In recent weeks, several senior Fed officials have indicated that interest rates may need to rise and stay high to keep inflation in check, the report said.

21, in Washington, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said in prepared remarks that headline inflation and other underlying measures of consumer price inflation remain elevated.

Cook, a member of the Fed's 12-member committee that sets interest rates, said: "All of these indicators have peaked and fallen, but they remain elevated, suggesting that inflation has spread across the economy."

Cook said the road back to stable inflation is "likely to be long and likely bumpy."

She also said the 'optimized path' for raising interest rates would be determined by the impact of the recent financial sector turmoil on bank lending, according to the report.

"But if the data show continued growth and deflation easing, we may have to keep trying," she said.

Reports say the Fed will announce its next interest rate decision on May 3.

Most futures traders now expect the U.S. central bank to raise its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, according to data compiled by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group.