Fed chair Warsh says price stability is key but shies away from signals about rates

BANGKOK (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said Friday he won’t prejudge what the U.S. central bank will do about interest rates at its upcoming meetings in October and December.

The Fed increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9% in September, its first increase in three years, and stubbornly elevated U.S. inflation will likely lead it to hike that rate again in coming months to slow spending and help cool price pressures.

But Warsh offered no fresh signals during a “fireside chat” with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok.

“At the Federal Reserve, we made very clear that we would deliver price stability, and we removed a dose of accommodation about a month ago,” Warsh said. “I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year."

The Fed's September rate hike defied U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the Fed to cut rates. The president criticized the Fed’s rate-setting committee, though he still expressed support for Warsh, whom he appointed earlier this year.

The global surge in prices is a key concern of central bankers and financial leaders meeting in Bangkok.

According to minutes released from the most recent meeting, most Fed officials expect that another interest rate increase will likely be needed this year. That would raise borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards over time.

Warsh said the surge in investment driven by the craze for artificial intelligence is one of the factors behind higher inflation and the Fed's task force on issues related to AI will meet Nov. 16.

“I’d say the advent of this new technology is probably the most consequential change to the U.S. and the global economy in my lifetime to this point,” he said.

Unlike military conflict and other shocks that are driving prices higher, Warsh said he believes AI will bring “huge benefit” to the world economy in time.

For Fed economists who struggle to foresee the future using data that lags behind today's realities, AI could prove a vital tool, he said.

"We torture data with old fashioned models to try to find out what’s underlying inflation trends. Not so long from now, it won’t be torture. We will have access at the fingertips of central banks to all the information in the world, and we’ll be able to use new analytical tools to distill that data,” he said.

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington and AP journalist Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this story.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, left, talks to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dhitaraht Dhanarahtsombat)

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dhitaraht Dhanarahtsombat)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dhitaraht Dhanarahtsombat)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, left, and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh greet after speaking at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dhitaraht Dhanarahtsombat)

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dhitaraht Dhanarahtsombat)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities ordered inspections of all private schools in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after a school roof collapsed and killed 34 children and a teacher, as some victims’ relatives said the structure previously was reported to be weak.

The provincial government announced an investigation into the cause of Thursday’s collapse at Al-Khair school as victims’ families demanded justice. At least one family member said he had warned the school owner about leaks.

Police on Thursday arrested the school’s owner, Mohammad Khan. Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmed said the building was structurally weak and Khan told officers that recent rains had weakened one of the roofs.

The government order, which was seen by The Associated Press, directs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s education department to establish district committees to inspect private school buildings throughout the province and submit findings and recommendations within three days.

The inspections must cover premises that are owned as well as those that are rented. Specific areas to checks in the buildings include roofs, ceilings, walls, columns, beams, foundations and staircases. Districts must require urgent technical assessment and classify school buildings as safe, in need of repairs or improvements, or potentially unsafe, the order says.

Emergency crews arrived within five minutes of being alerted and everyone trapped beneath the rubble was recovered by the time the operation ended Thursday. Rescuers pulled at least 40 children alive from the debris, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for emergency services in Peshawar.

The collapsed roof was a traditional structure made of mud and bricks and some of the children trapped beneath died of suffocation, Faizi said.

Speaking from a hospital bed, injured teacher Mahwish Zaman said the collapse happened so suddenly that no one had time to escape.

Zaman described being in her classroom when she heard a loud crash from the floor above. Before she could warn her students to run to safety, the ceiling fell in. She was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital and later learned many of her students had died.

Residents visited victims’ families, many of whom lived in Peshawar’s Dir Colony neighborhood, where the school is located.

Mohammad Zaman, whose two nephews died in the collapse, said he and other relatives had complained to the school's owner about rainwater repeatedly seeping into classrooms. Zaman said he warned that the building’s condition could lead to a tragedy.

Zaman, 36, said through tears that his nephew Abdul, 9, was in second grade, while Abuzar, 10, was in third grade. Abuzar’s sister, Samiya, a nursery student at the school, survived because she had gone outside to buy sweets.

Zakir Ullah lost both sons, Abu Bakr and Mohammad, who were in the same classroom. His daughter was in a different class and ran home after the collapse to tell the family the school had fallen. They rushed back with her and found the boys’ classroom buried under rubble, he said.

Nothing was visible beneath the debris, said Ullah, who described the building as weak and demanded punishment for any officials who authorized its use as a school.

“How could I have known this would take both my sons away from me,” he said.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

Mourners attend funeral prayers of children, who were died in a roof collapse of a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

Rescue workers take a break while searching through the rubble at the site of a roof collapse at a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

A Pakistani shows the picture of his relative boy, who was died in a roof collapse of a private school, prior to a funeral prayer, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

A rescue worker stand beside shoes and a school bag of victim children at the the site of a roof collapse of a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)