Treasury Secretary Bessent Addresses Fed Policy, Inflation Trends, and 2026 Growth Outlook at Semafor Event

S. S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2026. He participated in a 23-minute interview at the Semafor World Economy’s inaugural Treasury Secretary Dinner at the Library of Congress.

During the interview with Semafor Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, Bessent addressed interest rates, inflation, and economic growth. Bessent told Semafor Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith that the Federal Reserve should wait and see before lowering interest rates. He said, 'Do I think rates should be lowered?

' Bessent stated that the economy was very strong coming out of January and February 2026.

Inflation Rises Amid Oil and Gas Costs The U.S.

government reported that inflation rose three times faster in March 2026 than in February 2026 amid surging oil and gas costs. Inflation excluding food and energy rose slightly less than forecasters had anticipated in March 2026.

Bessent stated that recent price increases are unlikely to embed into long-term inflation expectations, calling them 'transitory'. Bessent stated that he does not believe the current inflation will get embedded into inflation expectations. He said, 'If ever there was ‘Team Transitory,’ it’s this,' regarding inflation.

Bessent added that the Federal Reserve is doing the right thing by sitting and watching the war in Iran.

Economic Growth Projections for 2026 Bessent stated in February 2026 that the economy would grow more than 4% in 2026.

He said that the economy will have some make-up to do regarding growth projections for 2026. Bessent added that in theory the economy could still grow more than 4% in 2026 even with a big catch-up. Bessent said the war in Iran will be looked back on as providing 50 years of stability after 50 or 100 or more days.

S. dollar has strengthened.

Banking Regulations and Executive Order Bessent stated that a forthcoming executive order requiring banks to collect citizenship information on customers is in process.

He said it is not unreasonable for banks to collect information on who is in the banking system.

Federal Reserve Nomination and Structure Bessent's criteria for Kevin Warsh’s Fed nomination is someone with an open mind.

He said Kevin Warsh will do a serious look at how the reserve banks interact. Bessent stated that the reserve banks are a management disaster because something like 50% of the people in each reserve bank do not report to the president. Bessent said regarding Sen.

Prediction Markets and CFTC Discussions Bessent spoke to the head of the CFTC recently about potential insider trading in prediction markets.

He said he did not notice anything unusual in discussions with the CFTC head about prediction markets. Bessent stated that prediction markets should be used more as a tool to show consensus.

Meeting with Bank CEOs on Cybersecurity Bessent called reports of a recent meeting with bank CEOs over Anthropic’s Mythos dramatized.

He said the meeting with bank CEOs was held because they happened to be in town to discuss cybersecurity of large language models. Bessent stated that the Treasury would work with Anthropic on cybersecurity concerns, as they have a specific issue with DOW.