Fed's Barkin says US is vulnerable to inflation shocks, FT reports

FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Federal Reserve building is pictured in Washington · Reuters

(Reuters) - The U.S. is more vulnerable to inflationary shocks than in the past, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday.

Barkin said he expected inflation to continue dropping across the U.S, while cautioning that businesses were passing on costs to consumers more readily than in the past.

"We're somewhat more vulnerable to cost shocks on the inflation side, whether they be wage-[related] or otherwise, than we might have been five years ago," Barkin told the FT.

(This story has been refiled to fix the day reference in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum)