To preserve these benefits, we engaged in our most recent preemptive tightening in early 1999 that brought the funds rate to 6-1/2 percent by May 2000. Our goal of price stability was achieved by most analysts’ definition by mid-2003. Unstinting and largely preemptive efforts over two decades had finally paid off.
Throughout the period, a key objective has been to ensure that our response to incipient changes in inflation was forceful enough.